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Strength and Deformation Behavior of Compacted Soils Under Varied Suction and Drainage Conditions

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Abstract

The short- and long-term hydromechanical responses of geostructures made up of compacted soils often depend on the field drainage conditions. The effect of unsaturation due to field settings in compacted soils could alter various engineering properties. Hence, quality assessment and rehabilitation of these geostructures require information on the properties of soils depending on their short- and long-term mechanical behavior. To address this issue, in the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the strength and deformation behavior of compacted natural soil for two different drainage conditions corresponding to short-term and long-term monotonic loading, respectively. For simulating the drainage conditions resembling field situations, two types of unsaturated triaxial tests, namely a drained test and a constant water test, were performed in the laboratory. For both the test types, samples were sheared at 50, 150, and 300 kPa suction values at net confinement of 100, 150, and 200 kPa in a modified unsaturated triaxial apparatus. Finally, a comparison was made between the strength and deformation behavior of the compacted natural soil samples obtained typically from these two tests.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Dr. Suman Roy and Mr. Chidanand M. Jadar, for their help in analyzing, plotting, and interpreting unsaturated triaxial test results.

Funding

The author appreciates the financial support provided by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, India (Grant Nos. SERB/F/4638/2013-14 and CRG/2018/004612), and the Initial grant from IIT Kanpur (Grant No. 20110145).

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

    Sathiyamoorthy Rajesh

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Rajesh, S. Strength and Deformation Behavior of Compacted Soils Under Varied Suction and Drainage Conditions. Indian Geotech J 54, 284–300 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-023-00736-1

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