1.

Term paper summary

A review on microstructurally based effective stress for unsaturated soils
In the study of unsaturated soil mechanics several attempts have been made to a
single stress state variable to describe the constitutive relation. Bishop (1959)
proposed the addition of a fraction of matric suction to total stress to obtain a unique
effective stress. Bishop and Blight(1963) observed that the effect of change in matric
suction and net normal stress is not same. The need for an effective stress equation for
unsaturated soils has been replaced through the use of two independent stress state
variables. The independent stress state variables namely net normal stress and matric
suction provide proer means for describing unsaturated soil behaviour. Fredlund and
Morgenstern(1971) experimental evidences for net normal stress and matric suction as
two independent stress state variables. Several attempts to define simple relation
between total stress and soil suction faced serious contraints on subsequent
formulations and violates the basic assumption inherent to classical continuum
mechanics.
This paper discusses the relative merits of two alternative sets of effective stress
proposals: the pairs (net normal stress and matric suction) and (Bishop effective
stress, using parameter χ and matric suction). Both have received much attention, and
have been proved to be thermodynamically consistent. The first approach is a
convenient choice for interpreting and analysing suction-controlled laboratory tests,
and it leads to simpler formulations of constitutive models. However, it does not
facilitate the transition from unsaturated to saturated states, and the interpretation of
some aspects of unsaturated soil behaviour (shear strength or stiffness dependence
upon suction) requires joint consideration of the two stress variables. The second
approach offers the possibility of describing properly some aspects of unsaturated soil
behaviour (strength and elastic stiffness, in particular) in terms of a single effective
stress (the Bishop expression having a factor identified with the degree of saturation).
This is particularly the case for granular soils (sands) and, to some extent, for fine
granular soils such as silts, whose unsaturated behaviour is controlled mainly by
capillary effects. This advantage is progressively lost when the clay fraction of the
soil increases. For high-plasticity clayey soils the Bishop effective stress (always
within the interpretation χ= Sr) becomes exceedingly large as suction increases. It has
been shown that details of the analytical expression describing the WRC may lead to
unrealistic results as suction increases. Bishop’s expression may also be inconvenient
to use in practice,especially in the interpretation of laboratory tests.
The concept of effective stress in unsaturated soils cannot be dissociated from the soil
microstructure. Knowledge about microstructure of clay indicate that two categories
of pores are observed. Inter-aggregate pores that are relatively large and intra-
aggregate pores that are relatively small. In inter-aggregate pores capillary forces are
governing and in intra-aggregate pores physic-chemical bonds are governing. In
order to introduce this relationship, the volume of water existing in the soil for a given
suction is conceptually divided into two parts: the free water, partially filling the
macropores, and the ‘immobile’ water, closely attached to the clay minerals. An
effective degree of saturation, on a scale ranging from 0 to 1, is then defined to
characterise the amount of free water.
Degree of saturation Sr=Sr M +Sr m
Sr M : macroscopic degree of saturation
Sr m: microscopic degree of saturation
Sr−Sr m
Effective degree of saturation Sr =
e
⟨
1−Sr m ⟩
⟨ x ⟩=0.5( x+| x|)
Effective dgree of saturation is a measure of freely available water filling inter-
aggregate pores. Its value is 0 when all water is in intra-aggregate pores and is 1 when
soil is saturated.
The proposal made is that this effective degree of saturation weights suction effects
into the effective stress definition. Even if two stress variables are needed to describe
the behaviour of unsaturated soils in a comprehensive way, particular aspects
(strength and elastic behaviour have been selected here) may be properly interpreted
in terms of the single effective stress proposed here. It is therefore suggested that the
effective stress defined in this paper may conveniently be used as one of the two
independent stress states required for a full description of the unsaturated soil. An
interpretation of data on strength and stiffness changes with suction for a variety of
soils has shown that the proposed effective stress definition is consistent with
experimental results. The analysis performed also led to identification of the material
 parameter involved in the definition of the effective degree of saturation. This
parameter characterises the immobile water fraction and, in one of the cases analysed
(Boom clay), it has been shown to be very close to independent determinations using
other techniques (porosimetry, WRC data, and relative permeability determinations).

2. Tensiometers are used for the direct measurement of negative pore water pressures in
the soils by establishing a continuous connection between soil pore water and the
measuring system. Reliable measurement of matric suction in the range of 90kPa to
1o101.3 kPa is not possible with a conventional tensiometer due to problems
associated with cavitation. Water will cavitate and commence boiling when the
absolute pressure above the water surface approaches the vapor pressure. The
limitation is that air in the sensor will result in bad or less negative measurements of
the pore water pressure for the following reasons: a) water vaporizes as the soil water
pressure approaches the vapor pressure of water at the ambient temperature. b) air in
soil can diffuse through the ceramic material; c) air comes out of solution as the water
pressures decrease.

3. Figure shows the SWCC curves for the soils compacted at different initial conditions.
The soil C is compacted under wet of optimum condition and it as the highest AEV as
observed from the figure. This is because at wet of optimum condition, the soil
possess a dispersed structure with smaller pores having lower permeability and it
desaturates at a lower rate. Whereas in the case of dry of optimum condition (Soils A
and B) structure will be flocculated with clod formation and larger voids. This gets
desaturated at a very fast rate thus showing lower AEV. The Figure shows SWCC
only up to 1500 kPa suction as mentioned in the question. During desaturation,
corresponding to higher suction values residual stage is reached and all the soils A, B
and C have same residual suction value because in that stage mainly vapor phase
predominates. Compared to soil B, soil A has slightly higher AEV because they are
prepared with higher compactive effort thus leading to higher density with smaller
void sizes.
Air entry value (AEV) is the matric suction value at which desaturation starts or
otherwise the matric suction value that must be exceeded before air recedes into soil
pores. It is a measure of the maximum pore size in the soil. The intersection point
between straight the sloping and the saturation ordinate defines air-entry value of the
soil. Residual suction value is that suction after which the increase in matric suction
value does not produce a significant change in the degree of saturation or water
content.

The variation of shear strength with matric suction for A and C is also plotted .
Compacted soils with different density and water content conditions can yield
 different shear strength parameters and should be considered as different soils. At any
particular matric suction, shear strength of unsaturated soil at wet of optimum is
higher than dry of optimum. This is because wet of optimum samples have higher
wetted contact area and higher resistance is offered by this wetted area to keep the
structure intact. In dry of optimum high desaturation and less wetted area is there.
Therefore soil C has higher shear strength compared to soil A for a particular matric
suction value.

4.

consider 4 layers as shown . Let the swelling pressure have a variation along the
depth as shown in the figure using the equation (1), Δ hi can be calculated.
c P
∆ hi= s h i log fi
1+ eoi Poi
Cs1=0.10, eo1=0.9
Cs2=0.10, eo2=0.9
Cs3=0.09, eo3=0.9
Cs4=0.08, eo1=0.9

Superstructure load (Asphalt + gravel) 14.8 kPa

Swelling Thickness of Centre of Final stress Δ hi
pressure, Poi each layer each layer state, Pfi
(kPa) (m) (m) (kPa) (mm)
400 0.5 0.25 19.3 34.64
200 0.5 0.75 28.3 22.35
200 0.5 1.25 37.3 17.27
100 1.0 2.00 50.8 12.38
Total 86.65 mm
5. Several attempts have been made to use a single stress state variable to describe the
constitutive relation. Bishop (1959) proposed the addition of a fraction of matric
suction to total stress to obtain a unique effective stress. This effective stress principle
extended to partially saturated soils remained basically associated with a fully elastic
(linear or not) conception. Several attempts to define simple relation between total
stress and soil suction faced serious constraints on subsequent formulations and
violate the basic assumption inherent to classical continuum mechanics. This
approach fails in explaining the collapse behaviour under wetting. Bishop’ stress is
given by the following equation
σ ,=( σ−u a ) + χ (u a−uw )

σ ,is the effective stress ua is the pore air pressure uw is the pore water
pressure σ is the total stress χ is the Bishop’s parameter
The importance of the effective stress parameter χ lies in the width of range of
saturation state it confers to the effective stress. Indeed, the parameter is imposed to
vary from 0 for dry soils to 1 for saturated soils, enabling a simple transition from
partially to fully saturated states. e Bishop’s parameter was basically introduced to
scale down the influence of suction in the function of the volumetric ratios of the
different fluid phases. This obviously defines a primary hydro-mechanical coupling
by making the effective stress dependent on the matric suction multiplied by a
peculiar parameter. The effective stress parameter has been thought to be likely linked
with volumetric fraction of fluids occupying the pore space. Moreover, it was
observed that χ can be different for shear strength or volumetric deformation. This is a
serious limitataion. According to Fredlund and Morgenstern the effective stress
incorporates a soil parameter characteristic, rendering the equation a constitutive
expression instead of a mere description of the stress state, which means that
supplementary stress variables could be added to get rid of the material parameter.
Bishop and Blight(1963) observed that the effect of change in matric suction and net
normal stress is not same. Bishop & Blight (1963), Bight(1963) and Burland (1965)
introduced two stress state variables namely net normal stress and matric suction . The
independent stress state variables provide proper means for describing unsaturated
soil behaviour. Fredlund and Morgenstern(1971) gave experimental evidences for the
use of net normal stress and matric suction as two independent stress state variables.
 The advantage of this approach is that because no material parameters enter into the
definition of the stresses. Within this framework, laboratory tests are conveniently
planned, executed and interpreted. When used in numerical analyses, difficulties are
be found in following the transition between saturated and unsaturated states.
In recent years it has been suggested that more than two stress state variable may be
required to describe all constitutive behaviour of unsaturated soils. It is also suggested
that the stress state variable matric suction be replaced with suction stress instead.

6. Figure 2 a is a Null pressure plate equipment. It uses axis translation technique.

Technique translates the reference origin from the standard atmospheric pressure to
the final air pressure in the chamber. In a null type pressure plate, when the chamber
air pressure is zero, water is imbibed by the unsaturated specimen from the water
column. This is due to the inherent suction in specimen. The tension in water column
was found to reduce with increase in positive air pressure in the chamber. When the
positive air pressure equals the matric suction inside the specimen, equilibrium was
achieved and water column was found to be under no pressure. This equipment is
used for measuring suction in the lab.
Figure 2 b is a thermal conductivity sensor. Thermal conductivity of porous block is
calibrated with respect to applied matric suction. The sensor, placed in soil, is then
used to measure the matric suction by allowing it to come to equilibrium with the
stress state of the pore water. It measures matric suction in the range of 0-400kPa.
Advantages of thermal conductivity sensor are its simplicity and quick equilibration
time. Saturated sensor comes to equilibrium faster than an initially dry sensor.

7. Volumetric pressure plate extractor can be used to measure the SWCC along with the
hysteresis effects. The hysteresis attachments provide a more accurate volumetric
measurement of water flow in or out of the soil specimen. Both drying and wetting
SWCC can be measured using this apparatus
The procedure for determining SWCC using pressure plate is as following
a. The saturated soil specimen is placed on the saturated high air entry disc in the
pressure chamber
b. The air pressure in the chamber is raised to a prescribed value above the
atmospheric pressure. The matric suction in the soil is equal to the gauge air
 pressure in the chamber since the pore water connection at the bottom of the cell
is open to atmosphere.
c. At equilibrium conditions, the soil specimen has a water content that corresponds
to the matric suction value applied. One to two days or three to seven days are
required to achieve equilibration condition for coarse grained and fine grained soil
respectively.
d. Equilibration condition is assumed when no water is discharged from the pressure
plate.
e. The gravimetric water content of the soil specimen is determined at the end of the
test. The information related to the other data points of the SWCC are determined
from back calculations based on the volume-mass properties of the soil.

8. Since the 5 samples are identical, even with different initial confining stress a single
plot is obtained . Only the rate will be higher for pore pressure increment with
increase in confining stress. The pore air and pore water pressure parameter (Ba and
Bw) are equal for all the five id samples . Pore pressure parameters Ba and Bw take into
account the changes in matric suction occurring under increasing total stress. Ba and
Bw are less than one at degrees of saturation less than 100% and at complete saturation
Ba equals Bw and approach a value equal to one. As the pore pressure parameters
account for the changes in matric suction, the shear strength behaviour of unsaturated
soil can be explained by using matric suction variations that occur as the soil tend to
saturate.As we increase the confining pressure, pore air and pore water pressure
increases and slowly the air starts to diffuse into water. During this, matric suction
decreases gradually and unsaturated soil tends to approach saturated state. When this
proceeds, by reaching a saturated condition, pore air and pore water pressure becomes
equal resulting in zero matric suction.
 The above expression can be used to explain shear strength variation with respect to
matric suction. In unsaturated state, the soil has some value of matric suction due to
air-water interphase. This contributes to additional shear strength in unsaturated soils
supplementing shear strength contribution due to internal friction. Further as the soil
tends to approach saturated state, the matric suction starts to disappear gradually and
the shear strength developed by suction decreases. Hence, for saturated soils, the shear
strength was solely contributed by the internal frictional component and cohesion of
the soil. Increase in confining pressure causes decrease in void ratio and an increase in
degree of saturation while maintaining constant water content in soil.

9. Permeability of the soil will not change as the water phase is continuous in the
boundary effect zone. But in transition zone, the water phase becomes discontinuous
and therefore the permeability of the soil starts decreasing rapidly and is a function of
effective degree of saturation.
For prediction of coefficient of permeability of a soil from its SWCC air entry value , pore-
size distribution index λ and residual degree of saturation S are required. , pore-size
distribution index λ is the slope of the SWCC curve during the transition zone. The residual
degree of saturation S is the degree of saturation after which the residual zone starts and
increase in matric suction does not produce a significant change in degree of saturation.

The coefficient of permeability can be estimated using the following equations (Brooks and
Corey, 1964):

k w =k s When ( u a−uw ) ≤(ua −uw )b

2+3 λ
(u −u )
{
k w =k s a w b
( ua−u w ) } When ( u a−uw ) >(ua −uw ) b

Where, k w = coefficient of permeability at a matric suction

k s= coefficient of permeability when soil is completely saturated.

Limitations:

1. Brooks and Korey (1964) model has an abrupt change at the air entry value of the
soil. This can cause problems during numerical modelling of flow behaviour.
2. Brooks and Korey (1964) method is useful to predict permeability of only coarse-
grained soils, like sands and gravel, which have low air entry value.
3. For Van Geutchen (1980) model, the magnitude of m and n depend on the
convergence procedure.
4. Mualem (1976) has a flexibility restriction w.r.t fitting SWCC of different shapes.
5. These equations do not give the minimum coefficient of permeability accurately. This
can cause serious problems while modelling flow behaviour of soils.