Abstract
Purpose
Temperature has a significant influence on water retention curve (WRC) because temperature affects surface tension of water and volumetric behaviour of soil. However, in previous studies on thermal effects on WRC, the difference in suction-induced volume change of soil specimen at various temperatures is always insignificant. With increasing temperature, the wetting-induced collapse of loess increases. This study aims to investigate thermal effects on WRC of collapsible loess.
Material and methods
A loess from Shaanxi province, China, is tested. Wetting–drying tests were carried out on compacted loess specimens at temperatures ranging from 5 to 50 °C. Thermal effects on water retention behaviour of collapsible loess are analysed.
Results and discussion
During the wetting process, volumetric water content at a given suction at 50 °C is 20% smaller than that at 5 °C. This is because when temperature increases from 5 to 50 °C, surface tension of water decreases by 10% and wetting-induced volumetric contraction increases by three times. During drying, the air entry value (AEV) of loess decreases with increasing temperature at a rate of 0.16%/°C.
Conclusions
The retention capability of unsaturated loess decreases with increasing temperature. For the tested collapsible loess, with increasing temperature, a combined effect of smaller water surface tension and larger wetting-induced collapse results in a prominent decrease in volumetric water content of loess. Moreover, the decrease of AEV induced by smaller surface tension is partially compensated by effects of larger wetting-induced collapse on AEV.
References
Abuel-Naga HM, Bergado DT, Boulazza A (2007) Thermally induced volume change and excess pore water pressure of soft Bangkok clay. Eng Geol 89(1–2):144–154
Alonso EE, Gens A, Josa A (1990) A constitutive model for partially saturated soils. Géotechnique 40(3):405–430
ASTM (2017) Standard practice for classification of soils for engineering purposes (unified soil classification system). ASTM International, West Conshohocken
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):468–478
Barden L, McGown A, Collins K (1973) The collapse mechanism in partly saturated soil. Eng Geol 7:49–60
Cai GQ, Zhao CG, Li J, Liu Y (2014) A new triaxial apparatus for testing soil water retention curves of unsaturated soils under different temperatures. J Zhejiang Univ-Sci 15(5):364–373
Chiu CF, Ng CWW (2012) Coupled water retention and shrinkage properties of a compacted silt under isotropic and deviatoric stress paths. Can Geotech J 49(8):928–938
Delage P, Sultan N, Cui YJ (2000) On the thermal consolidation of Boom clay. Can Geotech J 37(2):343–354
François B, Ettahiri S (2012) Role of the soil mineralogy on the temperature dependence of the water retention curve. Unsaturated Soils: Research and Applications. Springer, Berlin, pp 173–178
Garder WR (1955) Relations of temperature to moisture tension of soil. Soil Sci 79:257–265
Gatabin C, Talandier J, Collin F, Charlier R, Dieudonne AC (2016) Competing effects of volume change and water uptake on the water retention behaviour of a compacted MX-80 bentonite/sand mixture. Appl Clay Sci 121:57–62
Gens A, Alonso EE (1992) A framework for the behavior of unsaturated expansive clays. Can Geotech J 29(6):1013–1032
Gens A, García-Molina AJ, Olivella S, Alonso EE, Huertas F (1998) Analysis of a full scale in situ test simulating repository conditions. Int J Numer Anal Meth Geomech 22:515–548
Grant SA, Salehzadeh A (1996) Calculations of temperature effects on wetting coefficients of porous solids and their capillary pressure functions. Water Resour Res 32:261–279
Haeri SM, Khosravi A, Garakani AA, Ghazizadeh S (2017) Effect of soil structure and disturbance on hydromechanical behaviour of collapsible loessial soils. Int J Geomech 17(1):04016021
Hilf JW (1956) An investigation of pore water pressure in compacted cohesive soils. Technical memorandum 654. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Washington, DC
Hopmans JW, Dane JH (1986) Temperature dependence of soil water retention curves. Soil Sci Soc Am J 50(3):562–567
Jiang M, Hu H, Liu F (2012) Summary of collapsible behaviour of artificially structured loess in oedometer and triaxial wetting tests. Can Geotech J 49(10):1147–1157
Jiang M, Li T, Thornton C, Hu H (2017) Wetting-induced collapse behavior of unsaturated and structural loess under biaxial tests using distinct element method. Int J Geomech 17(1):06016010
Kell GS (1975) Density, thermal expansivity, and compressibility of liquid water from 0. deg. to 150. deg. Correlations and tables for atmospheric pressure and saturation reviewed and expressed on 1968 temperature scale. J Chem Eng Data 20(1):97–105
Kim DJ, Lee DI, Keller J (2006) Effect of temperature and free ammonia on nitrification and nitrite accumulation in landfill leachate and analysis of its nitrifying bacterial community by FISH. Bioresour Technol 97:459–468
Klein R, Baumann T, Kahapka E, Niessner R (2001) Temperature development in a modern municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash landfill with regard to sustainable waste management. J Hazard Mater 83:265–280
Laloui L (2013) Mechanics of unsaturated geomaterials. ISTE Ltd. and Wiley, Hoboken
Li P, Li T, Vanapalli SK (2016) Influence of environmental factors on the wetting front depth: a case study in the loess plateau. Eng Geol 214:1–10
Lichtensteiger T (1992) Langzeitverhalten von Schlacken in Deponien (long-term behaviour of MSWI bottom ash). VDI-Bildungswerk, seminar 43–76–03, 16./17.3.92, Munich, Germany
Mooney RW, Keenan AC, Wood LA (1952) Adsorption of water vapor by montmorillonite II effect of exchangeable ions and lattice swelling as measured from Xray diffraction. J Am Chem Soc 74:1371–1374
Morel JP, Marry V, Turq P, Morel-Desrosiers N (2007) Effect of temperature on the retention of Cs+ by Na-montmorillonite: microcalorimetric investigation. J Mater Chem 17(7):2812–2817
Muñoz-Castelblanco JA, Pereira JM, Delage P, Cui YJ (2012) The water retention properties of a natural unsaturated loess from northern France. Géotechnique 62(2):95–106
Ng CWW, Menzies B (2007) Advanced unsaturated soil mechanics and engineering. Taylor & Francis, Milton Park, UK
Ng CWW, Pang YW (2000) Experimental investigations of the soil-water characteristics of a volcanic soil. Can Geotech J 37(6):1252–1264
Ng CWW, Cheng Q, Zhou C, Alonso EE (2016a) Volume changes of an unsaturated clay during heating and cooling. Géotechnique L 6(3):192–198
Ng CWW, Sadeghi H, Hossen SB, Chiu CF, Alonso EE, Baghbanrezvan S (2016b) Water retention and volumetric characteristics of intact and re-compacted loess. Can Geotech J 53(8):1258–1269
Ng CWW, Cheng Q, Zhou C (2018) Thermal effects on yielding and wetting induced collapse of compacted and intact loess. Can Geotech J 55(8):1095–1103
Romero E, Gens A, Lloret A (2001) Temperature effects on the hydraulic behaviour of an unsaturated clay. Geotech Geol Eng 19:311–332
Romero E, Gens A, Lloret A (2003) Suction effects on a compacted clay under non-isothermal conditions. Géotech 53(1):65–81
Saha S, Gu F, Luo X, Lytton RL (2018) Prediction of soil-water characteristic curve for unbound material using Fredlund–Xing equation-based ANN approach. J Mater Civil Eng 30(5):06018002
Saiyouri N, Saiyouri D, Tessier PY (2004) Hicher experimental study of swelling in unsaturated compacted clays. Clay Miner 39:469–479
Salles F, Salles JM, Douillard R, Denoyel O, Bildstein M, Jullien I, Beurrouies H, Van Damme H (2009) Hydration sequence of swelling clays: evolution of specific surface area and hydration energy. J Colloid Interface Sci 333:510–522
Sun DA, Sheng DC, Xu YF (2007) Collapse behaviour of unsaturated compacted soil with different initial densities. Can Geotech J 44(6):673–686
Tang AM, Cui YJ (2005) Controlling suction by the vapour equilibrium technique at different temperatures and its application in determining the water retention properties of MX80 clay. Can Geotech J 42(1):287–296
Towhata I, Kuntiwattanakul P, Seko I, Ohishi K (1993) Volume change of clays induced by heating as observed in consolidation tests. Soils Found 33(4):170–183
Tripathy S, Thomas HR, Bag R (2017) Geoenvironmental application of bentonites in underground disposal of nuclear waste: characterization and laboratory tests. J Hazard Toxic Radioact Waste 21(1):D4015002
Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG, Pufahl DE (1999) The influence of soil structure and stress history on the soil-water characteristics of a compacted till. Géotechnique 49(2):143–159
Vargaftik NB, Volkov BN, Voljak LD (1983) International tables of the surface tension of water. J Phys Chem Ref Data 12(3):817–820
Vilar OM, Rodrigues RA (2011) Collapse behavior of soil in a Brazilian region affected by a rising water table. Can Geotech J 48(2):226–233
Wheeler SJ, Sharma RS, Buisson MSR (2003) Coupling of hydraulic hysteresis and stress–strain behaviour in unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 53(1):41–54
Xu L, Ye WM, Chen B, Chen YG, Cui YJ (2016) Experimental investigations on thermo-hydro-mechanical properties of compacted GMZ01 bentonite-sand mixture using as buffer materials. Eng Geol 213:46–54
Zhan TLT, Yang YB, Chen R, Ng CWW, Chen YM (2014) Influence of clod size and water content on gas permeability of a compacted loess. Can Geotech J 51(12):1468–1474
Zhou AN, Sheng D, Li J (2014) Modelling water retention and volume change behaviours of unsaturated soils in non-isothermal conditions. Comput Geotech 55:1–13
Funding
The authors are grateful to Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Research grants 616812 and 16209415), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 41572246, 51772280, 41902271) and National Science Foundation of China for Excellent Young Scholars (Grant 41322019) for their financial supports.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Fanghua Hao
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cheng, Q., Zhou, C., Ng, C.W.W. et al. Thermal effects on water retention behaviour of unsaturated collapsible loess. J Soils Sediments 20, 756–762 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02451-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02451-y