Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 27, No.

3
Paper ID GTJ11847
Available online at: www.astm.org

L. A. Oldecop1 and E. E. Alonso2

Testing Rockfill Under Relative Humidity Control

ABSTRACT: Rockfill stress-strain behavior is strongly controlled by the breakage of rock particles. Particle breakage is shown to depend on stress
level and the ambient relative humidity. A technique to perform tests on rockfill samples under relative humidity control has been developed. It has
been applied to testing large diameter samples of a crushed quartzitic shale under oedometric conditions. Relative humidity is imposed by means of a
double stage approach: moist air in thermodynamic equilibrium with a given saturated salt solution is first circulated through the sample. Circulation
of moist air is interrupted and the specimen is allowed to reach equilibrium. A technique to extend the feasible suction range of the technique down to
2.5 MPa is described. Details of the evolution of collapse and swelling/shrinkage strains, as changes in Relative Humidity are imposed, are reported
in the paper. Experimental findings are consistent with an underlying mechanism of particle breakage explained by the phenomenon of subcritical
crack propagation.

KEYWORDS: rockfill, collapse, relative humidity, vapor, suction, oedometer, constitutive model, particle breakage

Introduction first used in geotechnical testing, in unsaturated soils research

The influence of water in rockfill mechanical behavior is a well-
known experimental fact. A large number of laboratory experiments
carried out in the past (Sowers et al. 1965; Rzadkowski and Zurek
1970; Nobari and Duncan 1972; Marsal 1973; Clements 1981; Veiga
Pinto 1983) showed that rockfill materials may undergo significant
amounts of strain upon flooding. This phenomenon is usually called
“collapse,” referring to a strain increment not related to a load in-
crement. Moreover, rockfill shows time dependent behavior (i.e.,
significant amounts of strain may develop under constant load as
time elapses).
Extensive experimental work was done in the past in order to
get insight in the physico-chemical nature of collapse and other
water-related rockfill features. Oedometer and triaxial tests showed
that, for most rockfill materials, the straining process involves some
amount of particle breakage (Kjaernsli and Sande 1963; Sowers
et al. 1965; Marsal 1973). Moreover, it is well known that most rocks
lose strength as moisture increases (Vutukuri et al. 1974; Broch
1974, 1979). This fact was intuitively related to observed rockfill
behavior. Therefore, some early experimental efforts dealt with sin-
gle particles (Marsal 1973), inter-particle contacts or shaped points
of rock (Sowers et al. 1965; Rzadkowski and Zurek 1970; Clements
1981), tested in compression under varying moisture conditions.
In such tests, it was observed that the highly stressed contact zones
readily crushed under the applied load and that the flooding of
specimens under load caused additional breakage in the contact
zone.
Previous considerations led to the idea that performing rockfill
mechanical tests under controlled variable moisture conditions
would provide information of water action on rockfill compress-
ibility from a new perspective. The RH control technique was
Received Dec. 20, 2002; accepted for publication July 21, 2003; published
April 21, 2004.
1 Earthquake Engineering Institute (IDIA), Universidad Nacional de San
Juan, Argentina.
2 Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences, Universitat
Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
(Esteban 1990; Bernier et al. 1997; Delage et al. 1998; Yahia.-
Aissa 1999; Villar 1999; Romero 1999; Romero et al. 1999, 2001).
In order to apply the technique to rockfill materials, some diffi-
culties should be overcome. This paper describes those difficulties
encountered and the solutions developed. An adapted RH control
technique for rockfill materials is proposed in this paper, and the de-
veloped testing equipment is described. Experimental results show
that the proposed technique can be useful in studying the water
influence on rockfill mechanical behavior. Moreover, a new rock-
fill oedometer was designed, introducing specific details for RH
control.
Why Use Relative Humidity Control In Rockfill Testing?
A number of testing techniques were developed in unsaturated
soil mechanics, which allow the gradual change of the specimen
water content. Most of them are based on the control or the mea-
surement of matric suction: axis translation, tensiometers, moisture
extractors, and osmotic techniques (Fredlund and Rahardjo 1993;
Delage et al. 1998; Tarantino and Mongiovi 2000; Romero et al.
2001). Matric suction is defined as the difference between air pres-
sure and water pressure, which is supported by the surface tension
operating in a curved liquid gas interface (Fig. 1a). The control or
measurement of matric suction requires the specimen to be in direct
contact with a porous element. A special kind of porous ceramic
(Fig. 1b), a cellulose membrane, or in the case of the osmotic tech-
nique, a semi-permeable membrane (i.e., it allows the passage of
small-sized molecules up to a certain size) has to be used in order to
allow liquid water to be introduced or extracted from the specimen.
All of those porous elements are rather fragile. Therefore, porous
elements would readily break under the high and concentrated com-
pression forces transmitted at the sharp edges of rock particles at
the boundaries of a rockfill specimen.
Further difficulties are found if the requisites for a correct control
of matric suction are considered. Both liquid and gas phases within
the specimen and the porous element have to be continuous in order
to achieve liquid water transfer within the testing system and enable

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2 GEOTECHNICAL TESTING JOURNAL

where R is the gas constant, T is the absolute temperature, pv0 is the

FIG. 1—a) Interpretation of capillary effects in soil pores which are
partly filled by water and by air. Surface tension phenomena allows a
pressure difference to exist, i.e., the matric suction. b) Matric suction can
be controlled by means of a porous element, controlling both gas and liquid
pressures.
gas pressure control, respectively. This means that matric suction
control techniques will not work at all, if continuity of the liquid
or gas phase is lost during the test. Water and air continuity are
usually guaranteed in unsaturated soil testing, because the water
content range, which is relevant for the mechanical behavior under
study, is, generally, not so high as to lose gas phase continuity or
so low as to lose liquid phase continuity. On the contrary, it may
be anticipated that the last situation is indeed what will happen in
rockfill testing.
Experimental results and micromechanical considerations
(Oldecop and Alonso 2001) led to the idea that a “significant” wa-
ter content for rockfill mechanical behavior exists, comprising only
the water mass contained in the intraparticle rock pores. Water fill-
ing the interparticle voids should not be significant for mechanical
behavior. This means that, within the water content range bearing
interest for rockfill testing, it should be expected that the liquid
phase continuity does not exist, and hence, the control of matric
suction is impossible.
Alternatively, RH control can be used in order to perform changes
in the material moisture during mechanical testing. This technique
is based on the following physico-chemical principle: if a liquid
(i.e., water contained in a soil or rock pore) is allowed to reach
equilibrium with its vapor, the partial pressure of vapor, pv , is re-
lated to the matric suction, s, by the following relationship (Coussy
1995):


RT Ln pv / pv0 = −v(s + π) = −vψ (1)
saturation pressure of vapor at temperature T , v is the molar volume
of water, and π is the so called “osmotic component of suction,”
which accounts for the solutes being eventually present in liquid
water. Equation 1 is known as the psychrometric relationship and
may be directly derived from the second law of thermodynamics
(Castellan 1971). The ratio pv / pv0 in the first term of Eq 1 is de-
fined as the relative humidity, RH. The sum (s + π) in the second
term is called the “total suction,” ψ. Equation 1 implies that the
control of total suction in any specimen kept in a closed system can
be achieved by controlling the RH in the environment surrounding
the specimen, provided that enough time is allowed for the system
to reach equilibrium. In this technique, water transport is entirely
transported through the gas phase, either by advection or by molecu-
lar diffusion of water vapor. Therefore, this procedure is also known
as the “vapor equilibrium technique.”
RH control on the specimen environment can be achieved by
introducing a chemical solution within the testing system. The so-
lution is kept in a separate vessel, avoiding direct contact with the
specimen, but only with the system gas phase. Therefore, the RH
in the gas phase depends on the temperature, the chemical com-
position of the solute, and the solution concentration. By chang-
ing the last two factors, the RH in the testing environment is
controlled.
Different test setups are used in a relative humidity control tech-
nique. The simplest one consists of enclosing the specimen and the
solution in a leakproof container and allowing time for the system
to reach equilibrium. This type of test setup was used for the reten-
tion curve assessment of soils and rocks (Romero 1999; Romero
et al. 1999, 2001) and also in oedometer tests on soils (Esteban
and Sáez 1988; Esteban 1990). Its fundamental drawback is that
equilibration periods are rather long, since all water transfer be-
tween solution and specimen has to occur by molecular diffusion.
However, this technique was used in the present experimental work
for the determination of the retention curve of the tested rock, a
slate of Cambric origin, extracted from the Pancrudo River outcrop
(Aragón, Spain). The retention curve can be plotted either as suction
versus water content or RH versus water content, as in Fig. 2. In the
FIG. 2—Retention curve for the Pancrudo slate, obtained by means of
vapor equilibrium, axis translation, and tensiometer techniques.

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 OLDECOP AND ALONSO ON ROCKFILL 3

high RH range (>99%), in which the vapor equilibrium technique
becomes inaccurate, the data for the retention curve were obtained
by axis translation and tensiometer techniques. The retention curve
of the tested rock shows hysteresis effects, a typical behavior of
most porous materials.
An alternative procedure to overcome the problem of long equi-
libration periods associated with the vapor equilibrium technique is
to induce airflow between the solution and the specimen (Bernier
et al. 1997; Delage et al. 1998; Yahia.-Aissa 1999; Villar 1999).
In this way, water vapor is transported by advection, which is a
more efficient transport mechanism than the sole diffusion. There-
fore, vapor equilibrium with air circulation is the testing procedure
applied in the present work. In rockfill testing, this procedure can
be used with an additional benefit: due to the size of large rockfill
voids, a relatively large air flow can be passed through the spec-
imen, making water transfer more efficient, and hence, reducing
testing delays. The adaptation of RH control to rockfill testing, the
problems encountered, and the application limits of the technique
are discussed in the following sections.
Test Setup
A series of one-dimensional compression tests with RH control
was performed on a rockfill-type material. The test setup is shown
in Fig. 3a. A 300-mm-diameter oedometer, in which the RH of
the specimen could be controlled, was designed and built. Vertical

FIG. 3—Test setup: a) Oedometer and closed-loop air circuit for RH control; b) Scheme showing how water transport occurs within the rockfill specimen.

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4 GEOTECHNICAL TESTING JOURNAL

load was applied by means of air pressure. Vertical load was also TABLE 1—Equilibrium relative humidity for saturated solutions of
measured at the bottom platen by means of three load cells. In different salts following CRC (1997) and other data compiled by Delage
et al. 1998.
this way, friction stresses along the ring wall could be determined.
Devices for lateral stress measurement were also incorporated into CRC (1997)
the oedometer. Airflow is produced in a closed-loop circuit by an RH Values
RH at Validity Compiled by
electric membrane pump. The air passes through a vessel containing 20◦ C A B Range of Delage et al.
the saline solution and then flows through the rockfill specimen. RH Salt [%] For Eq 3 For Eq 3 Eq 3 [◦ C] (1998), at 20◦ C [%]
in the airflow is controlled by means of the chemical composition
and concentration of the saline solution. A capacitive hygrometer NaOH 6.0 5.48 27 15–60 ...
was installed at the specimen outlet in order to get a continuous KOH 10.0 0.014 1924 5–30 9
MgCl2 32.9 29.26 34 5–45 33–34
reading of RH evolution. NaBr 58.6 20.49 308 0–35 58
When a wetting path is performed, a saline solution is initially NaCl 75.4 69.2 25 10–40 76
selected so as to impose a RH value, higher than the current RH BaCl2 90.4 69.99 75 5–25 ...
within the specimen. Therefore, water vapor is transported by the K2 SO4 97.4 86.75 34 10–50 96–97
airflow, from the solution vessel into the specimen. The RH within
the rockfill (interparticle) voids gradually increases. As a result,
an RH gradient is induced between (interparticle) voids and rock where t is the temperature in ◦ C. Since the solution concentration
(intraparticle) pores. RH gradient triggers molecular diffusion, pro- changes while running the test due to water transfer between the
ducing the transport of water vapor from the rockfill voids into the solution vessel and the specimen, the solution molality has to be
rock pores (Fig. 3b). Within the rock pores, water vapor condenses measured once the equilibrium state is reached in order to obtain the
in those zones where the pore diameter is less than twice the equi- actual RH value reached by the specimen. Alternatively, saturated
librium curvature radius of the gas-liquid interface. As in the case of solutions of different salts can be used for the same purpose. In this
soils, under isothermal conditions, the equilibrium curvature radius case, solutions of different salts are intentionally prepared with a
is univocally related to matric suction, and hence, also to the RH by solute content exceeding the solubility limit in order to ensure that
Eq 1. An increase in RH implies a reduction in matric suction and saturation is maintained along the whole test duration.
an increase in the equilibrium curvature radius and, therefore, an Correlations have been developed between the solute chemical
increase in the amount of liquid water contained in the rock pores. composition and the equilibrium RH value imposed by each partic-
A reverse process (drying path) is induced if the solution-imposed ular saturated solution. For example (CRC 1997):
RH is lower than the current RH within the specimen. R H = A exp(B/T ) (3)
If the whole system (i.e., specimen + solution vessel + tubing)
◦
is leakproof, the water mass introduced into the specimen during where T is the absolute temperature ( K) and A and B are tabulated
a step of a wetting path (or the mass extracted from the specimen constants. Table 1 gives the equilibrium RH at 20◦ C for a set of seven
during a drying step) can be measured by successive weightings of different salts used in this work, Constants A and B published by
the solution vessel. CRC (1997), and the temperature range in which Eq 3 holds.
If the described process is allowed to continue over sufficient Irrespective of the type of solution used (unsaturated, saturated)
time, the system should tend to a thermodynamic equilibrium state. for the vapor equilibrium technique, the specimen RH becomes
In such an equilibrium state, RH is equal at every point of the known only when thermodynamic equilibrium is reached. During
systems gas phase (i.e., solution vessel, rockfill voids, and rock the transient stages of the test, the evolution of RH in the specimen
pores) and, therefore, no further vapor transport will occur. The RH remains unknown.
value is univocally related to the solution chemical composition and Realizing that the transfer of water vapor between the solution
concentration and, therefore, it becomes known. At equilibrium, RH vessel and the specimen (Fig. 3) occurs mainly by advection, and
and total suction are biunivocally related by Eq 1, and hence, can be assuming isothermal conditions, the rate of water transfer can be
used as interchangeable parameters measuring the effect of water written as:
on the rockfill mechanical behavior. dw

I [mass/time] = Wdry = q ρvessel
v − ρspec
v (4)
dt
Vapor Equilibrium With Saline Solutions Versus RH where Wdr y is the total dry mass of the specimen, w is the material
Measurement water content, dw/dt indicates the time derivative of w, q is the
airflow rate delivered by the pump, and ρv is the water vapor density
RH control was first attempted by means of the vapor equilibrium in air (water mass per unit volume of air). The water vapor density
technique just described, using saline solutions. The most relevant can be expressed as a function of the relative humidity:
aspect of this technique is to allow the system sufficient time to
reach thermodynamic equilibrium. For sodium chloride solutions, Mw
ρv = R H pv0 (5)
the equilibrium RH value in the system can be derived from the RT
solution molality, m (moles of NaCl per kg of pure water), by means where pv0 is the vapor partial pressure of saturation at temperature
of the following expressions (Romero 1999): T , Mw is the molecular mass of water, R is the gas constant, and T
is the absolute temperature. Replacing Eq 4 in Eq 5 and solving for
m < 3.0 R H = 1 − 0.035m − 1.1421 × 10−3 m(m − 3) (2a) dw/dt:
dw Mw
=q p 0 (R H vessel − R H spec ) (6)
dt Wdry RT v
m ≥ 3.0 R H = 1 − 0.035m − m(m − 3)(1.9772
As shown in Fig. 2, water content and RH are biunivocally related
× 10−3 − 1.193 × 10−5 t) (2b) during a monotonic path (i.e., a pure wetting or a pure drying path).

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 OLDECOP AND ALONSO ON ROCKFILL 5

Moreover, factors outside the parenthesis in Eq 6 will remain nearly

constant during a test. Hence:
d R H spec d R H spec dw d R H spec
= ∝ (R H vessel − R H spec ) (7)
dt dw dt dw
where dRHspec /dw is the tangent slope of the retention curve
(Fig. 2). Since the absolute value of (RHvessel – RHspec ) will al-
ways decrease while running the system, it follows that RHspec will
asymptotically approach the imposed RH value. However, since
the technique does not yield a direct measure of RH, identifying the
instant when thermodynamic equilibrium has been reached, this re-
lies on the measurement of the water transfer rate. As water transfer
vanishes (dw/dt → 0), it means that the system approaches equilib-
rium. But, as shown in the following section, the measurement of
water transfer is rather inaccurate, and hence, it is difficult to de-
cide when to halt the process. An early halting of the equilibration
process will cause the RH-value derived from the solution compo-
sition and concentration (Eqs 2 or 3) to differ from the actual RH
existing within the specimen. Therefore, an error in the RH deter-
mination is introduced. Moreover, for RH values higher than 90%
(i.e., when the saturation of the rock pores is approached), the slope
of the retention curve, dRHspec /dw, decreases more and more as RH
increases (Fig. 2). Therefore, performing high-RH wetting steps by
the vapor equilibrium technique is prohibitively time-consuming.
In order to avoid these shortcomings from the vapor equilibrium
technique, a different testing procedure was attempted. Saturated
solutions were applied as before in order to produce a RH gradi-
ent between the solution vessel and the specimen, and therefore, to
induce a change in its water content (either wetting or drying). A
larger air pump (11 l/min) than the initially installed was used to re-
duce time delays. The system was allowed to run for approximately
24 h producing wetting (or drying) of the specimen as described
before. Then the solution vessel was removed from the air circuit,
leaving only the specimen, the air pump, and the hygrometer, in FIG. 4—Oedometer test with RH control. Records of RH, temperature,
and vertical strain during a wetting path under constant load of 2.4 MPa.
order to run an equilibration stage. During equilibration, a low-rate
airflow was imposed, in order to induce a uniform distribution of
moisture across the specimen. By this procedure, the resulting equi- water transfer between the specimen and the solution vessel as in
librium RH at each wetting (or drying) step was measured, instead vapor equilibrium, but only within the specimen.
of attempting to force the RH to a prescribed value, as in the usual
vapor equilibrium technique. The RH was recorded along the whole
Errors and Uncertainties in RH Control and Measurement
process: wetting/drying stages and equilibration stages. A typical
RH record obtained along a complete wetting path under constant Additional shortcomings for the vapor equilibrium technique are
load is shown in Fig. 4. Wetting (W) and equilibration (E) stages are encountered when considering the uncertainty involved in the RH
indicated and salts used in the preparation of the saturated solutions versus solute chemical composition correlations used for computing
at each stage. Records of temperature at the specimen outlet port the RH value imposed by each solution. CRC (1997) specifies an
and the measured vertical strain of the specimen upon wetting are uncertainty of ±2% RH in applying Eq 5 together with coefficients
also shown in Fig. 4. The entire process of transferring the specimen A and B of Table 1. The last column of Table 1 shows some RH
from its initial condition at 30% RH up to the saturated condition values at equilibrium compiled by Delage et al. (1998), suggesting
(RH = 100%), takes no more than twenty-one days. This implies a an uncertainty of ±1% RH. Converting such uncertainty in total
notable saving of time in relation with previous experiments using suction by means of Eq 3 results in a variable-width uncertainty
the vapor equilibrium technique (i.e., 120 days were spent in taking band shown in Fig. 5. At 20◦ C and 10 MPa of total suction, an error
the specimen from 80% RH to 100% RH). of ±2% in computing the imposed RH implies an uncertainty of
It has to be realized that with the new testing procedure, the ±30% in the derived total suction value. On the basis of similar
duration of wetting/drying periods was reduced not only by the use considerations, Delage et al. (1998) recommended avoiding the use
of a larger air flow, but also by a certain amount of heating produced of vapor equilibrium for total suctions less than 10 MPa (93% RH at
by the pump over the whole system. A slight increase in the air 20◦ C). However, for the reasons previously mentioned, alternative
temperature (in the order of 5–6◦ C) implied a higher vapor density techniques for performing suction control in the low-suction range
in air for the same RH value, and hence, the water transport capacity (axis translation, osmotic techniques) are not suitable for rockfill
of the airflow was increased between 35 and 40%. Although the testing. Hence, in rockfill testing, it is worthwhile to extend the RH
new procedure required a substantial time to reach equilibrium, it is control technique into the low suction range as much as possible.
significantly shorter than the time needed with the vapor equilibrium On the other hand, measuring RH by means of a transducer
technique. This is due to the fact that equilibration does not involve also implies an uncertainty. The manufacturer of the capacitive

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6 GEOTECHNICAL TESTING JOURNAL
FIG. 5—Uncertainty for the total suction value derived from RH readings
with various error bands.
hygrometer used in the present work specifies an absolute error
band of ±1% RH in the range 0–90% RH and ±2% in the range
90–100% RH. This means that the involved uncertainty would be
similar to that corresponding to vapor equilibrium with saline solu-
tions. However, a new calibration of the instrument and a detailed
analysis of the composition of such errors led to the conclusion
that the manufacturer specified error band could be significantly
narrowed for the application given in this work. The specified er-
ror band comprises three different kinds of deviations: repeatability,
nonlinearity, and hysteresis deviations. Repeatability deviations are
not avoidable. Nonlinearity deviations arise from the two-point cal-
ibration procedure used by the manufacturer. This type of error can
be removed by calibrating the instrument against a complete set
of saline solutions, so as to get nonlinear calibration relationship
by which the RH readings will be later corrected. The existence of
hysteresis effects can be explained considering the working physi-
cal principle of the instrument: a capacitor with a porous dielectric
whose liquid water content changes following the RH variations
in the surrounding environment. The capacitance changes with the
dielectric water content, producing an electrical signal, which is, in
this way, related to the RH. Since the retention curve of any porous
material usually shows hysteresis effects, it is reasonable to expect
that such effects also affect capacitance transducers. However, if the
transducer is used in monotonic RH variation paths (either wetting
or drying), the hysteretic error component can be removed using
separated calibration relationships for wetting and drying paths. It
should be realized that the applied testing procedure, as in the case
of the wetting path shown in Fig. 4, does not imply strictly mono-
tonic variation of RH (the measured RH increases during wetting
stages and decreases during equilibration stages). However, it was
observed that the relatively small amplitude fluctuations of RH in-
volved in this procedure do not introduce significant hysteresis ef-
fects, but they become important only under full range amplitude
wetting/drying cycles.
The monotonic calibration relationships were developed on the
basis of calibration tests in which the transducer probe was en-
closed together with different saline solutions in a leakproof con-
tainer. The wetting calibration relationship can be approached by
a linear equation and all deviations are bounded within an error
band of ±0.5% RH (Fig. 6a). Calibration data along drying paths
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FIG. 6—Nonrepeatability error in the measurement of RH with a capaci-
tive hygrometer: a) Applying the wetting path correction curve, b) Applying
the drying path correction curve.
were approached by a quadratic relationship, being the repeatabil-
ity deviations bounded by the same error band (Fig. 6b). Observing
again the plot in Fig. 5, it can be seen that a total suction value of
2.5 MPa (approx. 98% RH at 22◦ C) can be measured by means of
the described capacitive hygrometer with an uncertainty of ±30%.
In fact, with the present testing system, values of total suction lower
than 2.5 MPa are not measurable via hygrometer. As the saturation
condition is approached, the whole system becomes unstable due
to liquid water condensation deposits formed at some places in the
air circuit, following small temperature fluctuations. The effect of
this is an unstable RH reading as in Stage 8 of Fig. 4. Therefore,
beyond that point the RH measurement is no longer possible.
The amount of water introduced or extracted from the specimen
at each testing step was deduced from successive weightings of the
solution vessel. The initial water content was measured by drying
and weighting a dummy sample. Hence, the specimen water con-
tent could be traced along the whole test by adding the successive
increments of water mass measured at each testing step. Due to the
relatively large mass of the specimen (24 kg), such increments were
large enough, so as to allow the weightings in a conventional labora-
tory balance (0.01 gr precision). However, due to the long duration
of the tests (in most cases well over 30 days), vapor losses in the air
circuit and presumably through the rubber membrane used for load
application in the oedometer caused cumulative errors resulting in
a significant overestimation of specimen water content. At the end
of Test 4, the specimen was dismantled and the actual water content
was measured by drying and weighting three samples of the tested
material obtained at different heights in the specimen. The actual

FIG. 7—Vertical strain-total suction data obtained during a wetting pro-
cess under constant vertical stress (2.4 MPa).
water content (measured) was 20% lower than the water content
value derived from the test records.
Test Results with RH Control
Data collected during the experiment presented in Fig. 4 were re-
plotted in Fig. 7 as a relationship between total suction and collapse
strain. Since the applied vertical load was kept constant (2.4 MPa),
the observed compression strain shall be attributed only to the wet-
ting process. This behavior is referred to as collapse. Total suction
values were derived from the RH and temperature data shown in
Fig. 4, by means of Eq 1. It should be realized that the only certain
suction values are those derived from data measured at equilibrium.
A circle indicates equilibrium points in Fig. 7. Data obtained during
transient states cannot be strictly related to any actual suction value
within the specimen. However, the suction-strain record shows that
the decrease in suction measured at each wetting stage is accompa-
nied by an immediate strain increment in compression. Moreover,
the partial recovery of suction during the next equilibration stage
does not cause the recovery of strain, but compression straining
continues with decreasing rate. At the start of the following wetting
stage, the straining process does not re-initiate immediately but only
when the minimum suction value reached in the last wetting stage
is approached. The whole behavior at each wetting-equilibration
step resembles a suction-based plasticity material (i.e., the suction-
caused strain increments are irrecoverable and the material has a
memory of the lowest suction value reached in the past).
Figure 8 presents the same strain data from Fig. 4, in terms of the
evolution of the specimen water content. A corrected strain-water
content curve was also drawn in Fig. 4, obtained by assuming that
20% of the water mass delivered to the specimen is lost as vapor
leaks in the system boundaries. Although there is uncertainty in the
water content data, it becomes evident from Fig. 8 that only a limited
range of water content values is relevant for the collapse behavior of
rockfill, as suggested by Oldecop and Alonso (2001). At a certain
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OLDECOP AND ALONSO ON ROCKFILL 7
FIG. 8—Strain-water content data obtained along a wetting path under
constant vertical stress (2.4 MPa).
value close to 4% (3.5% on the corrected curve), the collapse process
stops in a sudden manner and further increments in water content
have no apparent effects on the mechanical behavior. Moreover,
at the final stage of this test the specimen was fully flooded with
water, bringing the water content up to 15%. No further significant
increment of strain was associated with this flooding. It is worth
noting that the water content value at which the collapse process is
interrupted is slightly over the saturation water content of the rock
particles (i.e., when rock pores become fully filled with water). As
shown by the retention curve data in Fig. 2, the saturation water
content of rock is close to 2.5%. It seems reasonable to assume
that the point of completion of the collapse process corresponds to
the achievement of zero suction, which implies also the saturation
of rock particles. This could not be confirmed due to the limited
working range of the hygrometer. However, water condensation
was observed at the same moment at certain points of the air circuit,
suggesting that 100% RH was being approached.
On the basis of these observations, Oldecop and Alonso (2001)
suggested that only the water contained within the rock particles
has a significant influence on the mechanical behavior of rockfill.
Water filling the interparticle rockfill voids should have no effects on
the mechanical behavior. In this way, Oldecop and Alonso (2001)
obtained experimental support for a conceptual model based on
the subcritical crack propagation phenomena in rock particles. The
difference between the water content defining the completion of the
collapse process and the saturation water content of rock particles
was attributed to the presence of some fines found as mud adhering
to the rock particles as the tested specimens were dismantled. These
fine particles are believed to arise from the breakage of rock particles
and to have the effect of absorbing a part of the water delivered to
the specimen.
A completely different behavior is attained if a similar wetting
process is performed on a specimen under low applied vertical load.
This is shown in Fig. 9, where the records of RH, temperature, and
strain obtained with a specimen under a vertical stress of 0.03 MPa
are presented. In this case, collapse behavior does not occur at all,
but instead, a moderate heave strain increment is observed upon
wetting. It can be seen in Fig. 9 that the recovery of suction during
8 GEOTECHNICAL TESTING JOURNAL
FIG. 9—Oedometer test with RH control. Records of RH, temperature,
and vertical strain during a wetting path under a constant vertical stress of
0.03 MPa.
the equilibration stages is followed by a recovery of strains, sug-
gesting an elastic behavior. It was found that the tested slate con-
tains significant amounts of clay minerals, a fact that could explain
the observed swelling behavior. In Fig. 10, the same data of Fig.
9 is presented as a strain-total suction relationship. Two points ob-
tained from drying another specimen were also included in the same
figure. These points show a moderate shrinkage behavior, which is
consistent with the swelling behavior observed during wetting.
Let us re-examine the rockfill behavior upon wetting on the basis
of the experimental wetting data presented in Fig. 7. A closer view
of the behavior during a wetting-equilibration-wetting cycle is pre-
sented in Fig. 11. Total suction decreases during Wetting Stage 2
leading to the occurrence of collapse strains. At the Equilibration
Stage 2, the measured total suction increases due to redistribution of
moisture within the specimen. However, the collapse strain contin-
ues increasing at a decreasing rate until equilibrium is reached (i.e.,
when no further changes occur in the measured suction and strain).
As wetting is reinitiated (Stage W3), suction immediately continues
to decrease. On the contrary, strain does not immediately continue
in compression but a moderate heave is observed at first. The col-
lapse process is resumed with some delay, after the wetting process
was already running for a couple of hours. Collapse strain reini-
tiates halfway between wetting re-initiation and the instant when
total suction reached the maximum value attained in the previous
wetting step. The entire behavior shown in Fig. 11 suggests that
the two previously described deformation mechanisms be superim-
posed. Wetting/heave-drying/retraction mechanism, causing rather
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FIG. 10—Strain-total suction data obtained during wetting and drying
of specimens under a low applied vertical stress (0.03 MPa).
FIG. 11—Material behavior during a wetting-equilibration-wetting
cycle, under constant vertical stress (2.4 MPa).
moderate and recoverable strains, seems to be always active. The
collapse mechanism, causing large permanent compression strains
upon wetting, becomes active only as yield-suction is reached. Such
yield-suction seems to be related in some way to the minimum suc-
tion attained by the material in the past.
Theoretical Support For RH Control In Rockfill Testing
Oldecop and Alonso (2001) proposed a micromechanical con-
ceptual model, which explains both the collapse phenomenon and
time-dependent behavior of rockfill and the simultaneous depen-
dence on the stress state and water action. This model is based on
some fracture propagation phenomenon, which is assumed to occur
within the highly stressed rock particles, being the cause of parti-
cle breakage, the subsequent rearrangement of the granular struc-
ture, and the associated macroscopic strain increment. Such a phe-
nomenon is called “stress corrosion” and it was observed to occur
in most rocks (Atkinson 1984). Cracks propagate due to combined
action of the mechanical stresses and a chemical reaction between
rock and a corrosive agent (i.e., water). In a typical stress corrosion
experiment, the crack propagation velocity is observed to increase

with the applied loads and with relative humidity in the environ-
ment surrounding the specimen. Wiederhorn et al. (1980) proposed
a physico-chemical model based on the rate theory, resulting in the
following equation for the crack propagation velocity, V :
‡ where v is the molar volume of water. Hence, it can be thought that
V = V0 exp[−(µ0 − µrock
0 − µwater )/RT ]
where V0 is a proportionality constant, R is the gas constant, and T is
the absolute temperature. The term within the parenthesis is known
as the “energy barrier” of the chemical reaction, being defined as
the Gibbs free energy necessary to activate the reaction between
the reactive species of rock and water, producing one mole of “ac-
tivated complex.” The activated complex can be interpreted as an
intermediate weakened state of the molecular structure at the crack
tip, which is readily broken under the acting loads. µrock
0 ,µ
water
, and
‡
µ0 are the “molar Gibbs free energies” or “chemical potentials” of
the reactive species of rock at the crack tip, of water, and of the acti-
vated complex, respectively. Assuming that water vapor behaves as
an ideal gas, its chemical potential can be expressed as (Castellan
1971):
µwater = µwater + RT Ln(RH)
0
where µwater
0 is the chemical potential of pure water vapor at a con-
ventional reference state chosen as “pure water vapor at a given tem-
perature T and pressure, p0 , equal to the saturation vapor pressure
at temperature T ”. Replacing Eq 9 in Eq 8 the crack propagation
velocity becomes simply proportional to the RH. The remaining
argument of the exponential function is conveniently expressed as
a difference between a term containing the zero-stress activation
energy, E ‡ , and a term containing the strain energy provided by the
stress state at the crack tip, bK :
V = V0 RH exp[−(E ‡ − bK )/RT ] (10)
‡
E should be interpreted as the Gibbs free energy necessary to ac-
tivate the corrosion reaction between pure water at the standard state
and the unstressed rock. K is the stress intensity factor as defined in
fracture mechanics (Broek 1986), which completely characterizes
the stress state in the vicinity of the crack tip. Finally, b is the work
conjugated variable for K . Parameters E ‡ and b are usually obtained
by means of experimental data fit. Equation 10 shows that the crack
propagation velocity is a function of the applied load, conveniently
measured by the stress intensity factor, and of the water chemi-
cal action, conveniently measured by the RH in the surrounding
environment.
Such a conceptual model provides theoretical support to the ex-
perimental technique developed in this work. Given the previous
considerations, it is easy to understand why the sole variation of the
RH in the environment surrounding the rock particles has immedi-
ate effects on the mechanical behavior of rockfill. By changing the
RH, the velocity of crack propagation within the rock particles is
changed and, hence, the rate of particle breakage, the rate of rear-
rangement of the granular structure, and the rate of development of
macroscopic strain are also RH-dependent.
The dependence of rockfill behavior on total suction can be ex-
plained because within a system in equilibrium and under isother-
mal conditions, RH and total suction are biunivocally related by the
psychrometric relationship (Eq 3). However, Alonso and Oldecop
(2000) suggested a more profound physico-chemical interpretation
for the observed dependence on total suction. Assuming that liquid
water is in direct contact with the crack tip (as suggested in Fig. 3b),
the rate of the stress corrosion chemical reaction would depend on
the chemical potential of water, and the corresponding crack prop-
agation velocity would be given by Eq 8. Moreover, it should be
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OLDECOP AND ALONSO ON ROCKFILL 9
realized that under isothermal conditions, total suction is simply
proportional to the chemical potential of water (Navarro 1997):
µwater − µwater
0 = −vψ (11)
(8)
total suction is the parameter measuring the ability of liquid water
contained in the rock pores to produce the stress corrosion reaction.
Therefore, total suction can be identified as a variable having a direct
influence on the crack propagation velocity and, therefore, on the
mechanical behavior of rockfill. Hence, considering total suction
as a parameter, measuring the influence of water in the rockfill
mechanical behavior has a full physico-chemical meaning. On this
basis, Oldecop and Alonso (2001, 2003) proposed modelling the
rockfill behavior in compression by means of stress/suction-based
elasto-plasticity.
Conclusions
Relative humidity control was successfully applied to the me-
(9) chanical testing of rockfill, with the aim of studying the influence
of water on its behavior. Due to the singular features of rockfill grain
size distribution, particle shape, and deformation mechanisms, other
moisture control techniques usually applied in soil testing are not
suitable for rockfill. The testing procedure was adapted in order to
overcome some limitations of the original vapor equilibrium tech-
nique applied in soil testing (i.e., excessively long time delays and
inaccuracies in RH determination).
A mixed testing procedure was developed in which moisture
changes are performed in steps comprising a wetting or drying
stage followed by an equilibration stage. Moisture change during
wetting/drying stages is induced by airflow passing through the
specimen with its RH controlled by saturated solutions. During the
equilibration stage, the specimen is allowed to reach a uniform dis-
tribution of moisture and the attained equilibrium RH is measured
by means of a capacitive hygrometer.
Since the error band of the hygrometer specified by the manufac-
turer limits the range of measurement to suction values larger than
10 MPa, a recalibration of the instrument was performed, in order
to extend as much as possible the measuring range. In this way, the
suction measuring range was extended down to 2.5 MPa, involving
a maximum uncertainty of ±30%.
The evolution of the specimen water content could be derived
from the amounts of water mass introduced or extracted from the
specimen. Water mass delivered or extracted from the specimen
was measured by successive weightings of the solution vessel. It
was found that this procedure involves significant errors caused by
leaks in the system boundaries, exacerbated by the long duration of
tests.
The test results suggest that total suction is the relevant variable
measuring the effect of water in the rockfill mechanical behavior.
The observed behavior can be interpreted in terms of a suction-
based elasto-plasticity. The observed behavior was fully consistent
with the conceptual model proposed by Oldecop and Alonso (2001).
Such a model attributes the water-dependent behavior of rockfill to
some crack propagation phenomena, taking place within the rock
particles, which is known as stress corrosion.
The conceptual model proposed by Oldecop and Alonso (2001)
also provides the theoretical support to the applied testing technique.
By controlling the RH in the specimen environment, total suction
and, hence, also the chemical potential of water contained within
the rock particles are controlled. By changing the RH, the ability
of liquid water (which is in direct contact with the crack tips) to
10 GEOTECHNICAL TESTING JOURNAL
produce the stress corrosion reaction is changed. Therefore, the RH
control technique becomes a useful tool to investigate the influence
of water in rockfill behavior.
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