Reprinted from UNSATURATED SOILS Sponsored by the Geotechnical Engincering Division ASCE Held October 2428, 1988, Dallas, Texas An Overview of Unsaturated Soil Behaviour Delwyn G. Fredlund, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, STN OWO Harianto Rahardjo, Senior Lecturer, School of Civil and Structural Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 2263, ABSTRACT ‘Traditional soil mechanics practice has experienced significant changes during the past few decades. Some of these changes are related to increased atention 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 ofthe soil profile where the pore-water pressures are negative, is known as the vadose zone. The ground surface i subjected to a flux type boundary condition for many of the problems faced by geotechnical engineers. Unsaturated soil mectanics 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 ‘Reo-environmental problems. ‘This paper presents the scope and nature of typical unsaturated sols problems. The basic physical relationships associated with unsaturated soil mechanics are presented, "The research needs and a possible future direction for unsaturated soil mechanics are outlined. One of the conclusions is thatthe Soil Water Characteristic Curve can be sed to estimate relevant unsaturated soil properties for engineering analyses. INTRODUCTION Geotechnical engineering technology and practice developed primarily in. the temperate climates ofthe world, Asa 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 our 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 traditionally 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 Jed to the rapid transfer of geotechnology around the world. Similarly, the stress state variable 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 earth’s 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 have 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 Soils 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 dams and the many other structures which z Frediund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 in the laboratory. Ina 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 the 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 than 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 The effective stress variable, (o - u,), became pivotal in the 1930's as a means of communicating the behaviour of saturated soils (Terzaghi, 1936). Soil mechanics moved from an empirical basis to a science basis and enjoyed the implied status. Soil behaviour was related to effective stress which was independent of the soil properties. ‘The scope of saturated soil mechanics embraced three primary areas: (1) Seepage analyses where the problems were classified as either confined or unconfined flow analysis (Casagrande, 1936), (2) Plasticity and limit equilibrium analyses where the problems ranged from slope stability, to bearing capacity and lateral earth pressures, and (@) Volume change analyses directed primarily towards the prediction of settlement in soft clays. The basic formulations in classical soil mechanics were primarily of a static and steady state nature. One exception was the theory of consolidation which illustrated the interaction of deformation and seepage. The theory of consolidation provided an excellent mathematical and rheological tool to assist the engineer in visualizing saturated soil behaviour. It allowed the prediction of pore-water pressures in time and space, and became the symbol of classical soil mechanics. With time, there has been a need to consider a wider variety of unsteady state or transient related analyses. This has been most visible in the geo-environmental area where the geotechnical engineer is called upon to predict chemical concentrations with 3 Fre.