Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Axis Translation and Negative Water Column Techniques for Suction Control

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Negative water column and axis translation techniques are conventionally used experimental techniques for obtaining data to interpret the engineering behavior of unsaturated soils. The negative or the hanging water column technique is used as a suction control method in the low suction range (i.e., 0–30 kPa). The axis translation technique is used in the suction range 0 to 500 kPa or higher. This technique is particularly useful for testing specimens with suction values greater than 100 kPa avoiding problems associated with cavitation. While the axis-translation technique has been commonly used, the limitations associated with this technique related to air diffusion, water volume change and evaporation are not discussed in greater detail in the literature. This paper highlights some of the key aspects related to the negative water column and axis translation technique that are of interest both to the researchers and practicing engineers.

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
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams BA, Wulfsohn D, Fredlund DG (1996) Air volume change measurement in unsaturated soil testing using a digital-pressure volume controller. Geotech Testing J 19(1):12–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Alonso EE, Gens A, Josa A (1990) A constitutive model for partially saturated soils. Géotechnique 40(4):405–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Aversa S, Nicotera MV (2002) A triaxial and oedometer apparatus for testing unsaturated soils. Geotech Testing J 25(1):3–15

    Google Scholar 

  • ASTM (2003) D 6836–Standard test methods for determination of the soil water chararcteristic curve for desorption using a hanging column, pressure extractor, chilled mirror hygrometer, and/or centrifuge. American Society for Testing Materials, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbour SL (1998) Nineteenth Canadian geotechnical colloquium: the soil–water characteristic curve: a historical perspective. Can Geotech J 35:873–894

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barden L, Madedor O, Sides GR (1969) Volume changes characteristics of unsaturated clay. ASCE J Soil Mech And Found Div 5(1):33–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Bocking KA, Fredlund DG (1980) Limitations of the axis translation technique.In: Proceedings of the 4th international conference expansive soils, Denver, pp 117–135

  • Buckingham E (1907) Studies on the movement of soil moisture. Bull 38 USDA, Bureau of Soils, Washington DC

  • Bishop AW (1959) The principle of effective stress. Teknisk Ukeblad I Samarabeide Med Teknikk, Oslo, Norway 106(39):859–863

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop AW, Donald IB (1961) The experimental study of partly saturated soil in the triaxial apparatus. In: Proceedings 5th ICSMFE, vol 1. Paris, pp 13–21

  • Cui YJ, Delage P (1996) Yielding and plastic behaviour of an unsaturated compacted silt. Géotechnique 46(2):291–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Dane JH, Oostrom M, Missildine BC (1992) An improved method for the determination of capillary pressure-saturation curves involving TCE, water and air. J Contam Hydrol 11:69–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dane JH, Hopmans JW (2002) Hanging water column. In: Dane JH, Topp GC (eds) Methods of soil analysis––part 4––physical methods. Soil Sci Soc of Am, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • DeGennaro V, Cui YJ, Delage P, De Laure E (2002) On the use of high air entry value prous stones for suction control and related problems. In: Juca JFT, de Campos TMT, Marinho FAM (eds) Second international conference on unsaturated soils. Swets & Zeitlinger, Lissee, pp 435–441

  • Farulla A, Ferrari A (2005) Controlled suction oedometric test: analysis of some experimental aspects. In: Tarantino A, Romero E, Cui YJ (eds) Advanced experimental unsaturated soil mechanics. Trento, Italy, pp 43–48

  • Fredlund DG (1975) A diffused air volume indicator for unsaturated soils. Can Geotech J 12:533–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fredlund DG, Morgenstern NR (1977) Stress state variables for unsaturated soils. J Geotech Eng Div. ASCE 103:447–466

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H (1993) Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredlund DG, Vanapalli SK (2002) Shear strength of unsaturated soils. In: Dane JH, Topp GC (eds) Methods of soil analysis, part 4-physical methods, Soil Sci Soc of Am, Inc., Madison, pp 324–360

  • Gallipoli D, Gens A, Sharma RS, Vaunat J (2003) An elasto-plastic model for unsaturated soil incorporating the effect of suction and degree of saturation on mechanical behavior. Géotechnique 53(1):123–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haines WB (1927) A further contribution to the theory of capillary phenomenon in soils. J Agric Sci 17:264–290

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines WB (1930) Studies in the physical properties of soil: V. The hysteresis effect in capillary properties, and the modes of moisture distribution associated therewith. J Agric Sci 20:97–116

    Google Scholar 

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

  • Hoyos LR, Takkabutr P, Puppala AJ (2006) A modified pressure plate device for SWCC testing under anisotropic stress state. In: Miller GA, Zapata CE, Houston SL, Fredlund DG (eds) Unsaturated soils 2006, GSP No. 147, vol 2. Am Soc of Civ Eng, pp 1753–1762

  • Infante Sedano, JA (2006) A modified ring shear test device for determining the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. Ph.D. thesis. University of Ottawa

  • Infante Sedano JA Vanapalli SK Garga VK (2007) Modified ring shear apparatus for unsaturated soils Testing. Geotech Testing J. Am Soc Testing Mater 30(1):1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence CA Houston WN Houston SL (2005) Pressure pulse technique for measuring diffused air volume. In: Tarantino A, Romero E, Cui YJ (eds) Advanced experimental unsaturated soil mechanics, Trento, Italy, pp 9–13

  • Leong EC Rahardjo H (1997) Permeability functions for unsaturated soils. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 123:1118–1126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu HH Dane JH (1995a) Improved computational procedure for retention relations of immiscible fluids using pressure cells. Soil Sci Soc Am J 59:1520–1524

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu HH, Dane JH (1995b) Computation of the Brooks–Corey parameters at a physical point based on pressure cell data. Department of Agronomy and Soils Special Report, July 1995. Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn University, AL

  • Lu N, Likos WJ (2004) Unsaturated soil mechanics. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Maâtouk A, Leroueil S, La Rochelle P (1995) Yielding and critical state of a collapsible unsaturated silty soil. Géotechnique 45(3):465–477

    Google Scholar 

  • Macari EJ, Parker JK, Costes NC (1997) Measurement of volume changes in triaxial tests using digital imaging techniques. Geotech Testing J 20(1):103–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marinho FAM, Take WA, Tarantino A (2008) Measurement of matric suction using tensiometric and axis translation techniques. Geotech Geol Eng. doi:10.1007/s10706-008-9201-8

  • Matyas EL, Radhakrishna HS (1968) Volume change characteristics of partially saturated soils. Géotechnique 18(4):432–448

    Google Scholar 

  • Narasimhan TN (2005) Buckingham, 1907: an appreciation. Vadose Zone J 4:434–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ng CWW, Zhan LT, Cui YJ (2002) A new simple system measuring volume changes in unsaturated soils. Can Geotech J 39(3):757–764

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveria OM, Fernanado FAM (2006) Study of equilibration in the pressure plate. In: Miller GA, Zapata CE, Houston SL, Fredlund DG (eds) Unsaturated soils 2006, GSP No. 147, vol 2. Am Soc of Civ Eng, pp 1864–1874

  • Olson RE, Langfelder J (1965) Pore-water pressures in unsaturated soils. J Soil Mech Found Div, Proc of Am Soc of Civ Eng 91(4):127–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Padilla JM, Perera YY, Houston WN, Fredlund DG (2005) A new soil–water characteristic curve device. In: Tarantino et al. (eds) Proceedings of the advanced experimental unsaturated soil mechanics, EXPERUS 2005. Balkema Publishers, pp 15–22

  • Padilla JM, Perera YY, Houston WN, Perez N, Fredlund DG (2006) Quantification of air diffusion through high air-entry cerfamic disks. In: Miller GA, Zapata CE, Houston SL, Fredlund DG (eds) Unsaturated soils 2006, GSP No. 147, vol 2. Am Soc of Civ Eng, pp. 1852–1863

  • Power KC (2005) Suction and compressibility characteristics of an unsaturated till. M.Sc. thesis. University of Ottawa, 229 pp

  • Richards LA (1928) The usefulness of capillary potential to soil moisture and plant investigators. J Agric Res 37:719–742

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards LA (1931) Capillary conduction of liquids though porous medium. J Phys 1:318–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romano N, Hopmans JW, Dane JH (2002) Suction table. In: Dane JH, Topp GC (eds) Methods of soil analysis––part 4––physical methods, Soil Sci Soc of Am, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA

  • Romero E. Facio JA, Lloret A, Gens A, Alonso EE (1997) A new suction and temperature controlled triaxial apparatus. In: Proceedings 14th international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Balkema, Hamburg, Rotterdam, pp 185–188

  • Romero E (1999) Characterisation and thermo-hydromechanial behavior of unsaturated Boom clay: an experimental study. Ph.D. thesis. Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya

  • Romero E (2001) Controlled-suction techniques. In: Gehling WYY, Schnaid F (eds) Proceedings 4o Simposio Brasilerio de Solos Nao Saturadoes, ABMS, Porto Alege, pp 533–542

  • Sharma RS, Mohamed MHA (2003) An experimental investigation of LNAPL migration in an unsaturated/saturated sand. J Eng Geol 70/3–4:305–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toll DG (1990) A framework for unsaturated soil behaviour. Géotechnique 40(1):31–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarantino A, Tombalato S (2005) Coupling hydraulic and mechanical behavior in unsaturated compacted clay. Géotechnique 55(4):307–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanapalli SK, Fredlund DG, Pufahl DE, Clifton AW (1996) Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction. Can Geotech J 33(3):379–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanapalli SK, Garga VK, Infante Sedano JA (2005) Determination of the shear strength of unsaturated soils using the modified ring shear apparatus. In: International symposium on advanced experimental unsaturated soil mechanics, Trento, Italy, pp 125–130

  • Villar MV, Romero E. Buenfil C, Lloret A, Martin PW (2005) The application of the axis translation technique to the triaxial testing of unsaturated soils. In: Proceedings of the international conference on problematic soils, 25–27 May 2005, vol 1. Eastern Mediterranean University Press, pp 87–94

  • Wheeler SJ, Sivakumar V (1995) An elasto-plastic critical state framework for unsaturated soil. Géotechnique 45(1):35–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler SJ, Sharma RS, Buisson MSR (2003) Coupling of hydraulic hysterisis and stress–strain behaviour in unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 53(1):41–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the help received from Cevat Catana, Infante Sedano and Kenton Power in the preparation of slides for presenting this paper at the EXPERUS 2005 conference. Special thanks go to Dr. Alessandro Tarantino, Dr. Enrique Romero, Cevat Catana, Dr. Infante Sedano, and Dr. Marinho and for their comments and suggestions during the preparation of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Engineering Department, University of Ottawa, A020, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1N 6N5

    Sai K. Vanapalli

  2. University of Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

    M. V. Nicotera

  3. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Radhey S. Sharma

Authors
  1. Sai K. Vanapalli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. V. Nicotera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Radhey S. Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sai K. Vanapalli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vanapalli, S.K., Nicotera, M.V. & Sharma, R.S. Axis Translation and Negative Water Column Techniques for Suction Control. Geotech Geol Eng 26, 645–660 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-008-9206-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-008-9206-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation