Reprinted from UNASATURATED SOILS

Sponsored by the Geotechnical Engineering Division / ASCE

Held October 24-28, 1993, Dallas, Texas

An Overview of Unsaturated Soil Behaviour

ABSTRACT

Traditional soil mechanics practice has experienced significant changes during the past few decades.
Some of these changes are related to increased attention being given to the unsaturated soil zone
above the groundwater table. Increased concerns over the environment have, in part, fuelled the
need to better understand the behaviour of the zone near ground surface. The computational
capability available to the geotechnical engineer has also strongly influenced the engineers ability
to address these complex problems.

The portion of the soil profile where the pore-water pressures are negative, is known as the vadose
zone. The ground surface is subjected to a flux type boundary condition for many of the problems
faced by geotechnical engineers. Unsaturated soil mechanics has become a necessary tool for
analysing the behaviour of soils in the vadose zone and the flux boundary conditions as required in
many geotechnical and geo-environmental problems.

This paper presents the scope and nature of topical unsaturated soils problems. The basic physical
relationship associated with unsaturated soil mechanics are presented. The research needs and a
possible future direction for unsaturated soil mechanics are outlined. One if the conclusions is that
the Soil Water Characteristic Curve can be used to estimate relevant unsaturated soil properties for
engineering analyses.

INTRODUCTION

Geotechnical engineering technology and practice developed primarily in the temperature climates
of the word. As a result, research was directed towards problems involving soils with positive pore-
water pressures. Classic areas of study were associated with seepage, shear strength and volume
change. The practice of geotechnical engineering has however, undergone continual change.

Only about six decades ago, soil mechanics moved from being primarily an art to taking on a science
basis. It is only in the last four to five decades that soil mechanics has become a mandatory part of
civil engineering curriculums at universities. It is only the last two to three decades that computers
have greatly influenced oir ability to model complex geotechnical problems. There has been
continual change and now geotechnical engineering has expanded to embrace a large number of
problems occurring in the geo-environmental area.

The drier climatic regions of the world have become increasingly aware of the uniqueness of their
soil mechanics problems. Throughout the development of geotechnical engineering as a science,
there has been an increasing interest in developing a science basis for the broad category of
problems dealing with unsaturated soils. Now, a science appears to be immerging which is receiving
acceptance on a global scale. This paper will attempt to provide an overview of the scope and nature
of unsaturated soil behaviour.

NEED FOR AN UNSATURATED SOIL FRAMEWORK

Geotechnical engineering has traditional been viewed as an engineering field which is strongly
rooted in engineering mechanics, directed at solving problems related to strength, strain and
seepage. The effective stress principle is the key concept that has led to the rapid transfer of
geotechnology around the world. Similarly, the stress state carriable approach is becoming the
means for transferring unsaturated soil behaviour from one continent to another.

Arid and semi-arid regions of the world comprise more than one-third of the earths surface. Soils
in these regions are dry and desiccated near the ground surface. These conditions may extend to a
considerable depth and in some cases the water-table may be more than 30 metres below ground
surface. Even under humid climatic conditions the groundwater table can be well below the ground
surface and the soils used in construction are unsaturated. Engineering organizations hace realized
the need for a technical discipline which more specifically addresses the soil mechanics problems
related to unsaturated soils. This has brought about the formation of a committee on Soils in Arid
Regions within the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE),
the committee on Unsaturated Soils within the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE), and
the committee on Solis in Arid Regions within the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The
formation of these committees bears witness of the growing awareness of the need to better
understand unsaturated soil behaviour.

Compacted soils comprise a large part of the earth structures designed by engineers. Examples are
the roads, airfields, earth dam and the many other structures which form part of the infra-structure
of our society. Swelling clays, collapsing soils and residual soils are all examples of unsaturated soils
encountered in engineering practice. These soils are often referred to as Problematic Soils.
Common to all of these soils is their negative pore-water pressures which play an important role in
their mechanical behaviour and also make them difficult to test the laboratory.

In a matter of only about two decades, world attention shifted from the analysis of engineered
structures to limiting the impacts of technology and developments on the natural world.
Geotechnical engineers found themselves well positioned, by virtue of their training and experience,
to study impact of a wide range of developments. Geotechnical engineers have in general, quickly
broadened the scope of their domain of practice. In North America and other parts of the world,
many geotechnical consulting firms now find that more that 75% of their work involves geo-
environmental type projects. As part of geo-environmental type projects, it has become necessary
to study the mass flux of contaminants transported to the groundwater system. Most of these
problems occur near ground surface and as such a knowledge of unsaturated soil behaviour is
valuable.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTUS ON CLASSICAL SOIL MECHANICS