Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Incorporating Temperature Effects in Soil-Water Characteristic Curves

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Indian Geotechnical Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The study of water movement in unsaturated soils under non isothermal conditions requires understanding the soil water characteristic curves (SWCC) as a function of temperature. Physical processes such as water permeability, and shear strength of unsaturated soils are a function of the SWCC. These curves are generally assumed to be a unique relationship for a soil for all practical purposes. However, factors such as temperature and volume change can affect this uniqueness. The aim of this paper is to present a rational approach to describe the effect of temperature on the SWCC under isothermal conditions. A simple equation based on the relationship between temperature and the capillary rise is applied to find the air entry value at different temperatures when its value is known at a reference temperature. The same equation can be applied to the residual water content term of the SWCC. An experimental procedure for two different coarse-grained soils in the low suction range (i.e., 0–30 kPa) at three different temperatures (4, 20, and \(49\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}\)) were conducted to validate the proposed approach. The comparison between experimental results, published SWCC data from literature and the proposed equation indicate that the proposed method can be used to successfully predict the measured SWCC with respect to temperature.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

(data from Salager et al. [29])

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bach LB (1992) Soil water movement in response to temperature gradients: experimental measurements and model evaluation. Soil Sci Soc Am J 56(1):37–46

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Bachmann J, van der Ploeg RR (2002) A review on recent developments in soil water retention theory: interfacial tension and temperature effects. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 165(4):468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Brooks R, Corey A (1964) Hydraulic properties of porous media, Hydrology Paper No. 3. Colorado State University, Fort Collins

    Google Scholar 

  4. Chahal RS (1964) Effect of temperature and trapped air on the energy status of water in porous media. Soil Sci 98(2):107–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Constantz J (1991) Comparison of isothermal and isobaric water retention paths in nonswelling porous materials. Water Resour Res 27(12):3165–3170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Croney D, Coleman JD (1961) Pore pressure and suction in soils. In: Proceedings of the conference on pore pressure and suction in soils, Butterworths, London, pp 31–37

  7. Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H, Fredlund MD (2012) Unsaturated soil mechanics in engineering practice, technology and engineering. Published in Canada

  8. Fredlund DG, Xing A (1994) Equations for the soil-water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 31(4):521–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Fredlund MD, Wilson GW, Fredlund DG (2002) Use of the grain-size distribution for estimation of the soil-water characteristic curve. Can Geotech J 39(5):1103–1117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gerscovich DMS, Sayão ASFJ (2002) Evaluation of the soil-water characteristic curve equations for soils from Brazil. In: Proceedings of third international conference on unsaturated soils, pp 295–300

  11. Grant SA, Bachmann J (2002) Effect of temperature on capillary pressure. In: Water, mass and energy transfer in the biosphere. The Philip Volume, Environmental Mechanics, pp 199–212

  12. Grant SA, Salehzadeh A (1996) Calculation of temperature effects on wetting coefficients of porous solids and their capillary pressure functions. Water Resour Res 32(2):261–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Grifoll J, Gastó JM, Cohen Y (2005) Non-isothermal soil water transport and evaporation. Adv Water Resour 28(11):1254–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Haridasan M, Jensen RD (1972) Effect of temperature on pressure head-water content relationship and conductivity of two soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 36(5):703–708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hilf JW (1956) An investigation of pore-water pressure in compacted cohesive soils, PhD Thesis. Technical Memorandum No. 654. United State Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation, Design and Construction Division, Denver, Colorado, USA

  16. Ho DYF, Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H (1992) Volume change indices during loading and unloading of an unsaturated soil. Can Geotech J 29(2):195–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hopmans JW, Dane JH (1986a) Temperature dependence of soil hydraulic properties. Soil Sci Soc Am J 50(1):4–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hopmans JW, Dane JH (1986b) Temperature dependence of soil water retention curves. Soil Sci Soc Am J 50(3):562–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Jacinto AC, Villar MV, Gómez-Espina R, Ledesma A (2009) Adaptation of the van Genuchten expression to the effects of temperature and density for compacted bentonites. Appl Clay Sci 42(3):575–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Keshky ME (2011) Temperature effect on the soil water retention characteristic. Master of Science Thesis, Presented in Partial Fulfillment, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA

  21. King FH (1892) Observations and experiments on the fluctuations in the level and rate of movement of ground water on the Wisconsin Agricultural experiment station farm, and at Whitewater, Wisconsin. U.S. Weather Bur Bull 5:67–69

    Google Scholar 

  22. Kutula T, Ersahin S (2008) Calibration of van Genuchten unsaturated hydraulic conductivity parameters by regression technique. In: International meeting on soil fertility land management and agroclimatology, Turkey, pp 175–181

  23. Leong EC, Rahardjo H (1997) Review of soil-water characteristic curve equations. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 123(12):1106–1117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Liu HH, Bodvarsson GS, Dane JH (2006) Temperature dependence of large-scale water-retention curves: a case study. Hydrol J 14(8):1403–1408

    Google Scholar 

  25. Malaya C, Sreedeep S (2011) Critical review on the parameters influencing soil-water characteristic curve. J Irrig Drain Eng 138(1):55–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Nimmo JR, Miller EE (1986) The temperature dependence of isothermal moisture vs. potential characteristics of soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 50(5):1105–1113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Philip JR, de Vries DA (1957) Moisture movement in porous materials under temperature gradients. Trans Am Geophys Union 38:222–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Romero E, Gens A, Lloret A (2001) Temperature effects on the hydraulic behaviour of an unsaturated clay. Geotech Geol Eng 19(3–4):311–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Salager S, Jamin F, El Youssoufi MS, Saix C (2006) Influence de la température sur la courbe de rétention d’eau de milieux poreux. Comptes Rendus Mécanique 334(6):393–398

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  30. She HY, Sleep BE (1998) The effect of temperature on capillary pressure–saturation relationships for air–water and perchloroethylene–water systems. Water Resour Res 34(10):2587–2597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Sillers WS, Fredlund DG, Zakerzadeh N (2001) Mathematical attributes of some soil–water characteristic curve models. In: Toll DG (eds) Unsaturated soil concepts and their application in geotechnical practice. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, pp 243–283

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  32. Stormont JC, Anderson CE (1999) Capillary barrier effect from underlying coarser soil layer. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 125(8):641–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Torres Hernandez G (2011) Estimating the soil-water characteristic curve using grain size analysis and plasticity index. Master of Science Thesis, Arizona State University, Arizona

  34. van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44(5):892–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Vanapalli SK, Çatana MC (2005) Estimation of the soil-water characteristic curve of coarse-grained soils using one point measurement and simple properties. In: Proceedings of an international symposium on advanced experimental unsaturated soil mechanics, Roma, Italy, pp 401–410

  36. Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG, Pufahl DE (1999) The influence of soil structure and stress history on the soil-water characteristics of a compacted till. Geotechnique 49(2):143–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Villar MV, Gómez-Espina R (2007) Retention curves of two bentonites at high temperature. In: Schanz T (ed) Experimental unsaturated soil mechanics. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 112. Springer, Berlin, pp 267–274

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  38. Wu W, Li X, Charlier R, Collin F (2004) A thermo-hydro-mechanical constitutive model and its numerical modelling for unsaturated soils. Comput Geotech 31(2):155–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Zhang F, Zhang R, Kang S (2003) Estimating temperature effects on water flow in variably saturated soils using activation energy. Soil Sci Soc Am J 67(5):1327–1333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Zhou J, Yu JL (2005) Influences affecting the soil-water characteristic curve. J Zhejiang Univ Sci 6(8):797

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The financial support for this investigation was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Morton Jagodich Incorporated, 340 Midpark Way SE, Suite 150, Calgary, AB, T2X 1P1, Canada

    Pedram Roshani

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Colonel By, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada

    Julio Ángel Infante Sedano

Authors
  1. Pedram Roshani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julio Ángel Infante Sedano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julio Ángel Infante Sedano.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roshani, P., Sedano, J.Á.I. Incorporating Temperature Effects in Soil-Water Characteristic Curves. Indian Geotech J 46, 309–318 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-016-0201-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-016-0201-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation