Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-019-00874-y (0123456789().,-volV)
(0123456789().,-volV)

RESEARCH PAPER

Hydro-mechanical behavior of expansive soils with different dry

densities over a wide suction range
Junran Zhang1,2 • Geng Niu3 • Xuchang Li2 • De’an Sun2

Received: 7 October 2018 / Accepted: 29 September 2019 / Published online: 16 November 2019
 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
Many civil engineering projects are related to hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated expansive soils over a wide
suction range, which was investigated by imposing suctions on an expansive soil using the axis-translation technique and
the vapor equilibrium technique with saturated salt solution in this paper. Water retention test results on compacted
expansive soil show that void ratio keeps decreasing along with increasing the suction in an entire suction range (from 0 to
about 1000 MPa), and the soil–water retention curves in terms of gravimetric water content versus suction relation are
independent of the dry density or void ratio when the suction is higher than 250 kPa. Therefore, the mechanical tests on
an unsaturated expansive soil with constant water content can be considered as that at constant suction when suction is
higher than 250 kPa. The stress–strain behavior at different constant suctions in the entire suction range measured from
triaxial shear tests under a constant net confining stress shows that the strength and stress–strain curve of specimens with
higher suction are higher than those with lower suction and the higher the suction, the more dilative the specimens. The
strain softening appears when the suction is higher than a specific value and the appearance of strain softening is related to
the sliding surface. The tested compacted expansive soil with extremely high suctions (i.e., 38.0 and 368 MPa) shows
distinct peak strength, strain-softening and dilative behavior.

Keywords Dry density  Soil–water retention curve (SWRC)  Triaxial shear test  Unsaturated expansive soil 
Wide suction range

1 Introduction
Unsaturated soils are widespread in nature, particularly in
arid and semiarid areas, where a deep ground water
table exists usually. It is well known that some of the most
typical geotechnical infrastructure, including earth slopes,
retaining walls and pavements in arid and semiarid areas
& De’an Sun
sundean@shu.edu.cn
1 minerals (i.e., montmorillonite and illite), are sensitive to
Henan Province Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and
Structural Engineering, North China University of Water
Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450045, Henan,
China
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Shanghai University, 99
Shangda Road, Shanghai 200444, China
3
State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial
Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023,
China
and nuclear waste disposal clay buffers, involves the use of
natural or compacted expansive soils subjected to a much
wider range of moderate-to-high suction values. Moreover,
climate plays an important role in unsaturated ground
surface soils. For example, dry season with the lower rel-
ative humidity can cause unsaturated soil surrounding
dehydration to the point at which very high suction mag-
nitudes may be encountered. Therefore, it is necessary to
investigate the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated
soil over a wide suction range.
Expansive soils, consisting of strongly hydrophilic
suction change in particular. As shown in Ng et al. [25], the
climate can significantly affect the hydro-mechanical
behavior of unsaturated expansive soils, which may induce
severe disaster and damage to structures built on them.
Therefore, the study on the influence of suction on hydro-
mechanical behavior of unsaturated expansive soils over a

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wide suction range is essential to understand the mecha-
nism of geotechnical hazards related to expansive soils.
It is generally recognized that suction is one of the key
factors governing the behavior of unsaturated soils. The
influence of suction on unsaturated soil behavior has been
investigated widely via both theoretical and experimental
methodologies, which has been reviewed in, for example,
Gens [13, 31] and Sheng [31]. The suction can be measured
or applied in different manners, such as the axis-translation
technique, filter paper method and vapor equilibrium
technique, while the suctions in the pressure plate appa-
ratus and triaxial apparatus for testing unsaturated soils are
usually applied using the axis-translation technique. The
suitability of the axis-translation technique for imposing
considerably higher values of suction during testing,
however, is limited to the air-entry value (AEV) of the
ceramic disk for separating air from water in soil speci-
mens. This limitation normally constrains the testing
capability of most suction-controlled pressure plate appa-
ratus and triaxial apparatus to a suction state less than 500
or 1500 kPa. The suction range applied in most of these
apparatus is from 0 to 500 kPa. Therefore, great deals of
experimental studies have been conducted to investigate
the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated non-expan-
sive soils [11, 19, 23, 24, 30, 36] or unsaturated expansive
soils [25, 39] in a such low suction range.
The measured mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils
over a wide suction range is very limited in the literature.
Escario and Juca [8] performed suction-controlled direct
shear tests (up to 15 MPa) on three compacted soils using a
special device developed based on osmotic suction tech-
nique. Recently, Alsherif and Mccartney [2, 3] employed
the vapor flow technique in triaxial cell to control the high
suction in specimens to investigate the effects of elevated
temperatures and high suction magnitudes on the shear
strength of unsaturated silt, and Patil et al. [27] obtained
experimental evidence of shear strength of compacted silty
sand at a critical state from suction-controlled triaxial tests
conducted in the suction range of 0.05 to 300 MPa. Gao
et al. [12] performed a series of triaxial tests on a com-
pacted clayey silt over a wide suction range by using the
axis-translation technique and the vapor equilibrium tech-
nique with saturated salt solution. The above experimental
studies mentioned mainly focused on non-expansive soils,
and the tests on expansive soils over a wide suction range
are rather limited. Blatz et al. [5] performed triaxial tests on
compacted sand–bentonite that is a possible buffer material
in the nuclear waste disposal repository by using saline
solutions with different concentrations to induce high
suction ranging from 5.0 to 42.4 MPa. Some researchers,
such as Lloret et al. [20], Alonso et al. [1], Cuisinier and
Masrouri [6], Nowamooz and Masrouri [26], and Zhao
et al. [42] have studied the behavior of expansive
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Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278
bentonite–sand mixtures, or expansive bentonite–silt mix-
tures by modified oedometer over a wide suction range.
Zhang et al. [40] investigated the hydro-mechanical
behavior of expansive soil by triaxial tests in a suction
range up to 38.0 MPa, but the shear strength of the
expansive soil with different dry densities or at very high
suction was not systematically studied.
Moreover, a number of shear strength criteria for
unsaturated soils have been proposed in the literature
during the past decades [10, 17, 35]. It is often recognized
that most of those attempts have focused on finding a
relationship between the effective stress coefficient v and
the degree of saturation. This leads to significant overes-
timate of strength in high suction range, especially for fine-
grained soils. In recent years, using the capillary degree of
saturation to replace the effective stress coefficient v in the
shear strength criteria of unsaturated soils can well improve
the prediction in the entire suction range [18, 43], in which
the pore water in soils is divided into the capillary water
and adsorbed water. Whether the adsorbed soil–water
retention curve (SWRC) or capillary SWRC in the entire
suction range (from 0 to about 1000 MPa) can be accu-
rately predicted or not needs to be validated by experi-
mental data. Meanwhile, a number of coupled hydro-
mechanical constitutive models for unsaturated soils
[21, 22, 32, 33, 37, 38] were validated by experimental
results only in a low suction range (almost below the
suction of 500 kPa).
In addition, the effect of void ratio or density on shear
strength of unsaturated soils is notable over a wide suction
range, especially for fine-grained soils. Therefore, it is
necessary to investigate the hydro-mechanical behavior of
unsaturated expansive soils with different initial void ratios
or densities over a wide suction range, which also can
provide experimental data for validating constitutive rela-
tions used to describe the hydro-mechanical behavior of
unsaturated expansive soils.
This paper presents a systematical study to investigate
the effect of void ratio or dry density on the hydro-me-
chanical behavior of unsaturated expansive soil over a wide
suction range. The suction-controlled triaxial tests are
conducted on unsaturated expansive soil experiencing dif-
ferent suctions in a wide range of suction. To realize a wide
suction range, the low suction (0–800 kPa) was imposed by
the axis-translation technique (ATT) and the high suction
(3.29–368 MPa) was imposed on soil specimens by the
vapor equilibrium technique (VET). The experimental
program in this study consists of a series of suction-con-
trolled triaxial compression tests on soil specimens sub-
jected to different suctions. In addition, two methods
(pressure plate and vapor equilibrium methods) were
employed to study the soil–water retention behavior. The
Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278 267

detailed experimental program, test results and discussion is controlled by a closed-loop feedback scheme. The tri-
are presented in the following sections. axial shear tests were performed by controlling axial strain.
The axis-translation technique was adopted to control
matric suction in triaxial soil specimens. Pore water pres-
2 Test apparatus and experimental sure was applied through a saturated high air-entry ceramic
techniques disk installed in the base pedestal of the triaxial apparatus,
while the pore air pressure was applied through a coarse
2.1 Pressure plate apparatus for testing SWRC low air-entry disk placed on top of the triaxial soil speci-
men. The volume of the diffused air (i.e., air bubbles
The pressure plate apparatus used was produced by the underneath the ceramic disk) is measured by the flushing
Hong Kong GEO-Expert manufacturers. The air-entry system, and the measured volume is used for correcting the
value of the ceramic disk in the pressure plate apparatus is volume change of water (drained in/out of the triaxial
1.5 MPa. The axis-translation technique (ATT) [15] was specimen). Prior to the investigation tests, calibration tests
adopted to control matric suction of the soil specimen. Pore were conducted to estimate the volume change of different
water pressure was applied through a saturated high air- components of the system (including apparent volume
entry ceramic disk sealed to the base pedestal of the change of the cell due to cell pressure and loading ram
apparatus, while the pore air pressure (0–1500 kPa) was displacement).
applied through a coarse low air-entry disk placed on top of
the soil specimen. The free air could not penetrate the 2.3 Vapor equilibrium technique
saturated ceramic disk but the dissolved air is able to pass
through the ceramic disk with water. The dissolved air may The air-entry value of the ceramic disk in GDS triaxial
accumulate underneath the high air-entry ceramic disk, apparatus is 500 kPa, and thus the maximum suction of
leading to the formation of air bubbles during a long period specimens applied directly in this triaxial apparatus is
of testing. To correct this problem, a flushing system was 500 kPa. The suction higher than 500 kPa was achieved
employed during tests. The volume of the diffused air (i.e., via the vapor equilibrium technique (VET). To set suction
air bubbles underneath the ceramic disk) is measured by by the VET, a common method is to place soil specimens
the flushing system, and the measured volume is used for in a sealed container with a specific relative humidity
correcting the volume change of water (drained in/out of generated by saturated saline solutions [7, 29]. Details of
the specimen). The SWRCs of expansive soil in low suc- saline solutions used in the tests are listed in Table 1,
tion range were conducted by the pressure plate apparatus. together with corresponding relative humidity and suction
value, which are from Greenspan [14]. In this study, eleven
2.2 GDS triaxial testing apparatus saturated saline solutions (see Table 1) were used to
for unsaturated soils measure the SWRC and three saturated saline solutions
(i.e., K2SO4, NaCl and LiBr) were used to prepare the
All triaxial shear tests were conducted by GDS unsaturated triaxial specimens at high suctions to study the effect of
triaxial testing apparatus, which was manufactured by the
GDS Company (Hampshire, UK). The triaxial testing
Table 1 Saturated saline solution and corresponding suction (20 C)
system consists of a triaxial cell, two independent GDS
Standard Pressure Controllers (GDS SPC), a pneumatic Saturated saline Relative humidity Suction value
regulator with two channels, six transducers and a com- solution (%) (MPa)
puter. The GDS SPC is a hydraulic actuator for the precise LiBr 6.6 368
regulation and measurements of fluid pressure and volume. LiClH2O 12.0 287
The six transducers consist of (1) an internal load cell to CH3COOK 23.1 198
measure the axial force, (2) a linear variable differential MgCl26H2O 33.1 149
transformer (LVDT) to measure the axial displacement, (3) K2CO3 43.2 114
cell pressure transducer, (4) pore air pressure transducer, NaBr 59.1 71.1
(5) pore water pressure transducer and (6) a Wet–Wet KI 69.9 48.4
differential pressure transducer to measure the total volume
NaCl 75.5 38.0
change of the triaxial specimen. Water volume change of
KCl 85.1 21.8
specimens is measured by a GDS SPC. A computerized
Na2SO37H2O 90.9 12.9
control system was used to acquire the data from all of
K2SO4 97.6 3.29
GDS units and control the stress/suction paths. The system

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high suction on the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsatu- 100

rated expansive soil. The total suctions corresponding to
above the saturated saline solutions are calculated using 80
Kelvin’s law as follows:

Passing (%)
60
qw RT
w¼ lnðRHÞ ð1Þ
xv 40
where w is the total suction, kPa. xv is the molecular mass
20
of water vapor, which is assumed equal to 18.016 g/mol,
and R is the universal gas constant (i.e., 8.31432 J/mol K).
0
qw is the density of water, T is the absolute temperature, 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1
and RH is the relative humidity, %. Partical size (mm)

Fig. 1 Grading curve of Nanyang expansive soil

3 Testing material
The soil investigated in this study is referred to as Nanyang
expansive soil, which is an expansive soil according to the
‘Technical Code for Buildings in Expansive Soil Regions’
(from China National Standard). The expansive soil used in
the tests was taken from Wolong, Nanyang City, Henan
Province, China. The site is in the middle route of the
National South-to-North Water Transfer Project, and the
soil was retrieved at a depth of about 4 meters. Nanyang
expansive soil has a liquid limit of 38.8% and a plasticity
index of 21.6 and other physical property indexes (such as
specific gravity, plastic limit, maximum dry density, opti-
mum water content, free swelling ratio) are summarized in
Table 2.
Figure 1 shows the grading curve of the soil determined
by the hydrometer analyses. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that
the soil is composed of 23% clay fraction (\ 2 lm) and
about 77% silt fraction. Free swelling ratio def (%) is
defined as def ¼ ðVwe  V0 Þ=V0  100, here V0 is the initial
volume of oven-dried soil and Vwe is the volume of the soil
after swelling freely in distilled water, and is obtained from
free swell test. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the
predominant minerals of the soil were 62% quartz, 12%
albite, 10% microcline, 9.9% illite and 5.8% montmoril-
lonite, with a small percentage of kaolinite (0.3%).
4 Specimen preparation and testing
program
A series of soil–water retention tests and triaxial shear tests
were conducted to investigate the hydro-mechanical
behavior of unsaturated expansive soils with different ini-
tial dry densities over a wide suction range.
4.1 Soil–water retention tests
To study the water retention behavior of expansive soil in
the entire suction range, two suction control or measure-
ment methods are used: the pressure plate method for low
suction range of 0–1.5 MPa, and the vapor equilibrium
technique (VET) for high suction range of 3.29–368 MPa.
• For the pressure plate method, the specimens (diame-
ter = 50 mm, height = 20 mm) were prepared by static
compaction at the initial water content of about 21.5%.
The specimen after static compaction is shown in
Fig. 2a. The compacted specimens with three dry
densities of about 1.25, 1.35 and 1.50 Mg/m3 were
saturated before the tests.
• For the vapor equilibrium technique, the specimens
were prepared and saturated by the same method for the
pressure plate tests and the size and initial dry density
of the specimens are also similar to those for the
pressure plate tests. After saturated, the compacted
specimens were cut into eight parts with the almost
same size. In this way, not only the consistency of the

Table 2 Physical property indexes of Nanyang expansive soil

Specific Liquid Plastic Plasticity Shrinkage Maximum dry Optimum water Free swelling Unified soil
gravity limit (%) limit (%) index limit (%) density (Mg/m3) content (%) ratio (%) classification
system

2.74 38.8 17.2 21.6 10.5 1.69 18.2 53.8 CL

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Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278 269

(a) Specimen for soil-water retention test (b) Specimen for soil-water retention test

Fig. 2 Specimen for soil–water retention and triaxial test

Table 3 Water content, degree of saturation and void ratio of triaxial specimens at molding state and before triaxial shearing, and stress/suction
path
Test no. Molding state Before triaxial shearing Imposed suction (MPa) Stress path
w0 Sr0 (%) e0 w Sr (%) e

1 21.50 48.45 1.216 24.14 79.13 0.826 0.00 CL1

2 22.01 50.13 1.203 19.12 52.79 0.982 0.20 CL2
3 21.50 48.97 1.203 17.07 45.30 1.02 0.40 CL3
4 21.64 49.54 1.197 14.8 38.44 1.04 0.80 CL4
5 21.86 49.95 1.199 11.9 32.53 0.996 3.29 CH1
6 21.72 49.51 1.202 6.6 19.57 0.924 38.0 CH2
7 21.76 49.52 1.204 4.10 12.20 0.907 368 CH3
8 21.69 57.98 1.025 28.73 90.43 0.872 0.00 CL1
9 21.94 60.18 0.999 20.04 58.91 0.932 0.20 CL2
10 21.84 58.84 1.017 19.26 58.40 0.903 0.40 CL3
11 21.76 58.17 1.025 17.4 49.93 0.948 0.80 CL4
12 21.68 58.35 1.018 13.68 45.43 0.826 3.29 CH1
13 21.70 58.23 1.021 8.02 28.46 0.775 38.0 CH2
14 21.78 58.28 1.024 2.50 8.73 0.768 368 CH3
15 21.51 72.30 0.801 23.03 87.12 0.719 0.00 CL1
16 21.52 72.20 0.796 19.43 74.85 0.707 0.20 CL2
17 21.56 72.40 0.805 17.37 70.71 0.663 0.40 CL3
18 21.35 72.90 0.803 14.88 62.19 0.655 0.80 CL4
19 21.40 72.60 0.810 11.84 52.41 0.619 3.29 CH1
20 21.32 72.35 0.812 7.35 34.94 0.576 38.0 CH2
21 21.42 71.45 0.810 1.18 5.49 0.569 368 CH3

sample was maintained, but also the time for the suction
equilibrium was shortened. The small pieces then were
put into desiccators containing different saturated saline
solutions at the bottom and rigid grids were used to
support the soil pieces above the solutions.
4.2 Triaxial shear tests
To investigate the influences of suction levels on hydro-
mechanical behavior of unsaturated soil, a series of triaxial
shear tests on compacted unsaturated Nanyang expansive

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q
CL1: ABFK 40 ρd(g/cm3)
Test starts CL2: ACHL 1.25
Triaxial shear starts CL3: ADIM 1.35
CL4: AEJN 30 1.50

w (%)
0 200 210 400 800
A E s (kPa) 20
20
B C D
M N
K L
10
100
F H I J
σ 3n (kPa) 0 0
Stress path (red solid lines) 10 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6
(a) Maximum suction was achieved by axis-translation technique s (kPa)
(a) Water content versus suction relation
q 100
ρd(g/cm3)
Test starts CH1: A1B1C1D1E1 80 1.25
CH2: A1B2C2D2E2 1.35
Triaxial shear starts CH3: A1B3C3D3E3 1.50
60

Sr (%)
0 0.20 3.29 38.0 368.00
B1 40
20 A1 B2 B3 s (MPa)
C1 C2 C3
E3 20
E1 E2

100 0 0
σ 3n (kPa) D1 D2 D3 10 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6
Stress path (red solid lines) s (kPa)
(b) Maximum suction was achieved by vapor equilibrium method (b) Degree of saturation versus suction relation
Fig. 3 Stress and suction paths for triaxial tests 1.5

soil was conducted using the suction-controlled triaxial

apparatus. All of the compacted triaxial specimens were 1
prepared by static compaction at the initial water content of
e
about 21.5%. After the static compaction, the dry density is
about 1.25, 1.35 and 1.50 Mg/m3, respectively. To produce 0.5 ρd(g/cm3)
uniform specimens, soil powder with the initial water 1.25
1.35
content was compacted in five layers. The height and 1.50
diameter of specimens were about 76 mm and 38 mm, 0 0
respectively. The triaxial specimen after compaction is as 10 101 102 10 3 104 105 106
shown in Fig. 2b. The average initial suction of specimens s (kPa)
(c) Void ratio versus suction relation
after compaction was about 200 kPa measured by the axis-
translation technique in GDS triaxial apparatus. Fig. 4 Hydro-mechanical response of compacted Nanyang expansive
Table 3 gives a summary of the initial states of all soil measured by combining two different methods
specimens for triaxial tests and stress/suction paths in
details. It can be seen from Table 3 that the maximum Fig. 3b stand for the initial state of the specimens (after
suctions for specimens of tests CL1 * 4 are smaller than compaction). Triaxial shear tests for twenty-one compacted
1500 kPa, which were achieved by using the axis-transla- specimens were all under the same net confining stress of
tion technique and the maximum suctions for specimens of 100 kPa. Triaxial shear tests on specimens for tests
tests CH1 * 3 were greater than 1500 kPa, which were CL1 * 4 and CH1 * 3 were completed under different
achieved by using the vapor equilibrium method produced suctions of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 3.29, 38.0 and 368 MPa,
from different saturated saline solutions. respectively, which were used to study the effect of suction
The stress/suction paths in space of deviator stress (q), level on the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated
net confining stress (r3n ) and suction (s) for triaxial tests expansive soil.
are shown in Fig. 3. Point A in Fig. 3a and point A1 in In this study, the suction equilibrium was assumed to be
attained when the changing rate of water volume is less

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than 0.1 cm3 per day and the change in the specimen
volume is less than 0.1 cm3 per day. The shear rate should
be sufficiently slow to avoid non-uniformity in the pore
water pressure distribution within the soil specimen [16].
For all triaxial tests, the shear rate (i.e., axial displacement
rate) was set to 0.00192 mm/min while the net confining
stress and suction were kept constant. The observation
during testing confirmed that the shear rate we selected was
slow enough to avoid generating the excess pore water
pressure in the specimens.
5 Test results and discussion
5.1 Effect of dry density on water retention
behavior
Figure 4 shows the measured SWRCs over a wide suction
range, which is described by the changes in gravimetric
water content, degree of saturation and void ratio with
suction for compacted Nanyang expansive soil with the
initial molding dry densities of about 1.25, 1.35 and
1.50 Mg/m3 by using both the ATT and VET methods at
zero net stress. Figure 4a represents the relationship
between gravitational water content and suction, Fig. 4b
represents the relationship between degree of saturation
and suction, and Fig. 4c represents the relationship
between void ratio and suction. It can be seen that the
SWRCs in terms of water content are independent of the
initial dry density when the suction is larger than about
250 kPa, as shown in Fig. 4a. We can conclude that the
void ratio or dry density does not have an effect on the
SWRC at high suctions in terms of gravimetric water
content. Romero et al. [28] and Gao et al. [12] also
obtained the similar experimental results for silty clay and
clayey silt. When the SWRCs were expressed by the
relation between the suction and degree of saturation in
Fig. 4b, the SWRC with large initial dry density is higher
than that with smaller one, but when the suction is larger
than about 100 MP, the SWRCs in terms of degree of
saturation are independent of the initial dry density. This
result corroborates the trend drawn by other authors
([4, 28, 41], etc.). Moreover, the SWRC depends on several
factors such as the soil type, mineralogical composition,
soil structure and stress state. For the same type of soil, the
effect of stress state on the SWRC can be attributed to the
effect of the void ratio change [34].
When the suction reaches 368 MPa, the gravitational
water content of the specimen is only 0.33%, which is
approximately the completed dried state of soils. The
residual threshold for Nanyang expansive soil is not
explicit and no residual region can be observed from the
measured SWRCs. Test results, shown in Fig. 4c, indicate
271
that the void ratio keeps decreasing along with increasing
the suction in the entire suction range for Nanyang
expansive soil, and the curve with large initial dry density
is always lower than that with smaller one over an entire
suction range. For expansive soils at low water content, the
solid matrix may change somewhat during a drying pro-
cess. Here, for simplicity, the same assumption was
adopted as traditional soil mechanics, i.e., the volume of
soil particles remains unchanged for calculating the void
ratio.
The renowned mathematical equation developed by
Fredlund and Xing [9] was adopted to fit the drying SWRC
in the entire suction range measured by the pressure plate
method and vapor equilibrium technique, as shown in
Fig. 4b. The SWRC equation proposed by Fredlund and
Xing [9] can be expressed as follows.
CðsÞ
Sr ¼ n  s n om ð2Þ
ln½2:71828 þ 
a
where
 
s
ln 1 þ
sre
CðsÞ ¼ 1    ð3Þ
106
ln 1 þ
sre
sre is the residual suction; a, n and m are three fitting
parameters. The parameters for fitting the SWRC in Fig. 4b
are as follows: sre = 100,000 kPa; the fitting parameters a,
n and m for specimens with the initial dry densities of about
1.25, 1.35 and 1.50 Mg/m3 are 37.661, 0.679, 1.024;
107.832, 0.686, 0.995; and 345.680, 0.614, 1.254;
respectively.
5.2 Effect of dry density on hydro-mechanical
behavior
5.2.1 Effect of dry density on stress–strain behavior
Figures 5 and 6 depict the deviator stress versus strain and
volumetric strain versus axial strain curves obtained from
triaxial shear tests on compacted expansive soil specimens
with the initial dry densities of 1.25, 1.35 and 1.50 Mg/m3
under the net confining pressure of 100 kPa over a wide
suction range. In the cases, a negative sign in the volu-
metric strain represents dilative volume change, whereas a
positive sign indicates shear-contraction behavior. The soil
behavior with respect to different dry densities over a wide
suction range is summarized as follows:
1. Triaxial test results indicate that the specimen with
higher suction shows the higher peak shear strength
and the smaller contraction (i.e., higher dilation). For
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2000
s (MPa) 0
0.00
0.20
1500
q = σ1- σ3 (kPa)
0.40
0.80

εv (%)
3.29 5
38.0 s (MPa)
1000 368 0.00
0.20
0.40
10 0.80
500 3.29
38.0
368
0 15
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
ε1 (%) ε1 (%)
(a) ρd0 =1.25 g/cm3 (a) d0 =1.25 g/cm3

4000 -5

s (MPa)
0.00
q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)

3000 0.20 0
0.40
0.80

εv (%)
3.29
2000 38.0 5 s (MPa)
368 0.00
0.20
0.40
1000 10 0.80
3.29
38.0
0 368
0 5 10 15 15
0 5 10 15
ε1 (%) ε1 (%)
(b) ρd0 =1.35 g/cm3 (b) d0 =1.35 g/cm3
7000 -5
6000 s(MPa)
0.00
q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)

5000 0.20
0.40 0
0.80
4000 3.29
38.0
εv (%)

3000 368 5 s(MPa)

0.00
2000 0.20
0.40
1000 10 0.80
3.29
0 38.0
0 5 10 15 368
ε1 (%) 15
0 5 10 15
3
(c) d0 =1.50 g/cm ε1 (%)
(c) d0 =1.50 g/cm3
Fig. 5 Deviator stress versus axial strain relation from triaxial shear
tests at different suctions
Fig. 6 Volumetric strain versus axial strain relation from triaxial
shear tests at different suctions
the low suction range (i.e., suctions of 0, 200, 400 and
800 kPa), all the deviator stress versus strain curves (in softening behavior with the shear contraction and
Fig. 5) show a strain-hardening behavior with the shear dilation. At very high suction (i.e., suctions of 38.0 and
contraction except dry density of 1.5 Mg/m3 at suction 368 MPa), the expansive soil becomes very stiff with
of 800 kPa. The stress versus strain curve increases high peak strength and strong shear dilation, together
with increasing the imposed suction. For the high with a sharp strain softening after peak at relatively
suction range (i.e., suction of 3.29 MPa), the deviator small strain. Therefore, the features of stress–strain
stress versus strain curves with the initial dry densities curves, such as the peak strength, softening and shear
of 1.25, 1.35 and 1.50 Mg/m3 show a strain-hardening– dilation, are changing along with the suction levels.

123
Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278
The main reason is that the void ratio of the expansive
soil decreases with increasing the applied suction, as
shown in Fig. 4c and Table 3. In these figures, the
change from the strain-hardening type to strain-
softening type, due to the introduction of the suction
in all unsaturated specimens, is readily manifested.
They also corroborate the fact that the magnitude of
strain softening is more pronounced with increasing the
suction. That is, the soil tends to fail at lower axial
strain and takes less axial strain to reach the failure
with increasing the suction. It can also be noticed that
all the specimens were sheared until they softened back
to the residual states, at which they are expected to
exhibit only shear deformations without further change
in strength or volume.
2. For the same imposed suction, the shear strength
increases with increasing the initial dry density. For the
same initial dry density, the shear strength increases
with increasing the imposed suction in the entire
suction range, while it changes obviously in high
suction range. Finally, we can conclude that the effect
of void ratio or dry density on shear strength of
unsaturated expansive soils is notable over a wide
suction range.
Figure 7 depicts the deviator stress versus axial strain
relation of compacted Nanyang expansive soil with dif-
ferent dry densities for the same suctions. For the low
suction range (i.e., suctions of 0, 200, 400 and 800 kPa),
the deviator stress versus strain curves of expansive soil
specimens with dry densities of 1.25, 1.35 and 1.5 Mg/m3
(Fig. 7a–d) shows a strain-hardening behavior while
specimen with dry density of 1.5 Mg/m3 shows a strain-
hardening–softening behavior at suction of 800 kPa. For
high suction (suctions of 3.29, 38.0 and 368 MPa), the
deviator stress versus strain curves with the initial dry
densities of 1.25, 1.35 and 1.5 Mg/m3 show a strain–
hardening–softening behavior (Fig. 7e–g). Therefore, it
can be concluded that the strain–hardening–softening
response depends on dry density and suction level and
occurs when the suction exceeds a certain value, which
decreases with increasing the initial dry density.
Figure 8 shows the deviator stresses at failure and
residual of compacted Nanyang expansive specimens with
different initial void ratios over a wide suction range,
which is extracted from Fig. 5. In this paper, the failure
point was determined as follows: (1) if the stress–strain
curve has a peak, the peak is chosen as the failure point;
and (2) if the stress–strain curve has no peak, the point at
the axial strain of 15% is chosen as the failure point. In
addition, zero suction (test CL1) was plotted at 1 kPa for
the horizontal axial being logarithmic plot.
273
It can be seen that the deviator stresses at failure and
residual increase with increasing the suction. For the same
imposed suction, the deviator stresses at failure and
residual increase with increasing the initial dry density.
When the imposed suction is higher than a specific suction
value, the deviator stress at failure presents a larger change
compared with that at residual. We can conclude that the
effect of the initial dry density on shear strength of
unsaturated expansive soils is notable over a wide suction
range.
Moreover, different types of soils may present different
strength behavior over a wide suction range. Patil et al. [27]
also showed similar behavior of compacted silty sand. Gao
et al. [12] reported that the failure deviator stress of com-
pacted clayey silt shows little change or a decrease trend,
when the imposed suction is higher than a specific suction
value. Therefore, further studies are needed to find the
change law in shear strength for different types of soils
over a wide suction range.
5.2.2 Relationship between strain softening and sliding
surface development
Figure 9 shows the photos of the specimens with initial dry
density of 1.35 Mg/m3 after triaxial shear tests under dif-
ferent suctions of 0.80, 3.29 and 38.0 MPa. No obvious
shear surface appeared for the specimen with the suction of
0.80 kPa, while the shear surface appeared at suction
3.29 MPa, but the shear surface did not fully develop. At
the suction of 38.0 MPa, the specimen was sheared divided
into two parts, and the sliding surface fully developed.
About the stress strain relation, the specimen with the
suction of 0.80 MPa shows a strain-hardening behavior.
Under suction of 3.29 MPa, the specimen shows a strain–
hardening–softening behavior, but there was no sharp peak.
The stress–strain curve of the specimen with suction of
38.0 MPa shows a sharp strain softening after peak at
relatively small strain. From what has been discussed
above, three different failure states correspond to three
different types of stress–strain curve. Therefore, we can
conclude that the strain softening of the specimen is related
to the sliding surface. Patil et al. [27] also showed similar
phenomenon after the triaxial shear tests on compacted
silty sand.
Elastic and plastic strains appear in the process of
shearing, so the axial strain of the specimen is mainly
composed of elastic and plastic strains, which cause the
strain-hardening behavior. During increasing the axial
strain, the sliding surface gradually formed. After the for-
mation of sliding surface, the axial strain of the specimen
was composed of elastic strain, plastic strain and the slid-
ing part. As the specimen slides along the sliding surface,
the elastic strain and plastic strain increment of the
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274 Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278

400 600
ρd(g/cm3) ρd(g/cm3)
500 1.25
1.25 1.35

q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)
300 1.35

q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)
400 1.50
1.50

200 300

200
100
100

0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
ε1 (%) ε1 (%)
(a) s=0.00 MPa (b) s=0.20 MPa
800 800
ρd(g/cm3)
q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)

1.25

q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)
600 1.35 600
1.50

400 400

200 200
ρd(g/cm3)
1.25
1.35
1.50
0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
ε1 (%) ε1 (%)
(c) s=0.40 MPa (d) s=0.80 MPa
1200 5000

1000 4000 ρd(g/cm3)

q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)
q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)

1.25
800 1.35
3000 1.50
600
2000
400 ρd(g/cm3)
1.25
200 1.35 1000
1.50
0 0
0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
ε1 (%) ε1 (%)
(e) s=3.29 MPa (f) s=38.0 MPa
7000

6000 ρd(g/cm3)
1.25
5000
q = σ1 - σ3 (kPa)

1.35
1.50
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
0 5 10 15
ε1 (%)
(g) s=368 MPa

Fig. 7 Deviator stress versus axial strain relation of compacted Nanyang expansive soil with different dry densities under different constant
suctions

123
Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278 275

7000 surface, such as the flat section of the stress–strain curve of

6000 ρd(g/cm3) the specimen with suction of 38.0 and 368 MPa after the
1.25 peak.
qf = σ1f - σ3 (kPa)

5000 1.35
1.50
4000 5.2.3 Effect of dry density on volumetric strain over a wide
3000 suction range
2000
It can be seen from Fig. 6 that volumetric strain of the
1000 specimen gradually decreases with increasing suction at the
0 0 shearing (except for the suction of 0 kPa), i.e., the speci-
10 101 102 103 104 105 106
men volume changed gradually from the shear contraction
s (kPa)
(a) Deviator stress at failure to shear dilation. It can also be seen from Fig. 6 that when
the axial strain is equal to about 1.5% to 2.0%, the peak of
1200 stress–strain curve and maximum volume contraction
ρ d(g/cm3) strain occurred simultaneously for specimens with suctions
1.25
of 38.0 MPa and 368 MPa. The specimens with initial dry
qr= σ1r - σ3 (kPa)

1.35
800 1.50 densities of 1.25 and 1.35 Mg/m3 did not show shear
dilation until the suction of 38.0 MPa, while the specimens
with initial dry density of 1.5 Mg/m3 shows a slight shear
400 dilation at the suction of 0.8 MPa. It can be observed that
the specimen presents shear dilation behavior when the
suction exceeds a certain suction value, and the higher the
0 0 initial dry density, the smaller the suction value.
10 101 102 103 104 105 106
s (kPa) The volumetric strain of specimens with initial dry
(b) Deviator stress at residual densities of 1.25 and 1.35 Mg/m3 during triaxial shearing
under suction of 0 kPa is less than that under suction of
Fig. 8 Deviator stress at failure and residual over a wide suction
0.2 MPa, but volumetric strain of specimen with initial dry
range
density of 1.50 Mg/m3 during triaxial shearing under suc-
tion of 0 kPa is larger than that under suction of 0.2 MPa.
specimen gradually decrease, the axial stress gradually The reason can be considered as follows: the specimens
decreases (such as the specimen with initial dry density of with initial dry densities of 1.25 and 1.35 Mg/m3 are loose,
1.35 Mg/m3 under the suction of 3.29 MPa), and thus the and thus the collapse appeared in wetting from initial
strain softening occurs. When the sliding surface fully suction about 200 kPa to zero suction. That is, the void
develops and forms, the axial stress of the specimen is ratios of specimens with suction of 0 kPa before shearing is
mainly controlled by the sliding friction of the sliding smaller than that under the suction of 200 kPa. However,

(a) s=0.80 MPa (b) s=3.29 MPa (c) s=38.0 MPa

Fig. 9 Specimens after triaxial shear tests at different suctions (qd0 = 1.35 g/cm3)

123
276
ρ d(g/cm3)
15
1.25
1.35
1.50
10
ε 1f (%)
5
0 0
10 101 102 103 104 105
s (kPa)
Fig. 10 Change in axial and volumetric strains at failure of specimens with different suctions
the specimen with initial dry density of 1.5 Mg/m3 is
dense, there is no collapse happened in wetting, and thus
the void ratio with suction of 0 kPa before shearing is
larger than that under suction of 200 kPa. The void ratios
of all specimens before shearing are shown in Table 3.
Figure 10 shows the relationship between axial strain or
volumetric strain at the failure and the suction during tri-
axial shearing. As shown in Fig. 10a, the axial strain at the
failure decreases with increasing the suction under the net
confining pressure of 100 kPa, and the axial strains at
failure are almost the same when the suction is larger than
or equal to 38.0 MPa. As shown in Fig. 10b, for the
specimen with the initial dry density of 1.50 Mg/m3, vol-
umetric strain at the failure increases first and then
decreases with increasing the suction under the same net
confining pressure. For specimens with the initial dry
densities of 1.25 and 1.35 Mg/m3, the change trend is the
same as that with 1.5 Mg/m3 except zero suction, under
which collapse occurred before triaxial shear, and the
specimen became dense. When the suction is less than
38.0 MPa, volumetric strain at failure will gradually
decrease with increasing the initial dry density. When the
suction is greater than or equal to 38.0 MPa, volumetric
strain at failure keeps almost the same with increasing the
suction.
5.2.4 Hydraulic responses during triaxial shearing
Figure 11 shows the variation in gravimetric water content
of specimens during triaxial shearing over a wide suction
range. The gravimetric water content of three specimens
decreases with increasing the axial strain under constant
suctions in a low suction range (i.e., suctions of 0, 200, 400
and 800 kPa). For the high suction range, the gravimetric
water content of all specimens remained unchanged during
shearing, as shown in Fig. 11. This is because the speci-
mens in high suction range were triaxially sheared with
constant water content.
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Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278
15
ρ d(g/cm3)
1.25
1.35
1.50
10
ε vf (%)
5
0 0
106 10 101 102 103 104 105 106
s(kPa)
6 Conclusions
A series of water retention tests and suction-controlled
triaxial shear tests were conducted on Nanyang expansive
soil with different initial dry densities over a wide suction
range. The test results obtained from compacted specimens
were discussed by highlighting the effects of suction level
and dry density on the hydro-mechanical behavior. The
following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Water retention test results on the expansive soil show
that the void ratio keeps decreasing along with
increasing the suction in a wide suction range from 0
to 368 MPa. The SWRCs in terms of gravimetric water
content versus suction relationship are independent of
the dry density or void ratio when suction is larger than
250 kPa. Therefore, the tests on specimens with
constant water content can be considered as that at
constant suction when the suction is higher than
250 kPa.
2. Results of triaxial shear tests on Nanyang expansive
soil at different suctions show different stress–strain
relationships and strength characteristics under the
same net confining pressure. For compacted expansive
soil with the same dry density, the higher the suction,
the higher the stress–strain curve, strength and volume
contraction. The expansive soil with extremely high
suction shows distinct peak strength, strain-softening
and dilative behavior. For the same imposed suction,
the shear strength increases with increasing the initial
dry density, and the effect of the dry density on shear
strength of unsaturated compacted expansive soil is
notable over a wide suction range.
But different types of soils may present a different shear
strength behavior over a wide suction range, and further
studies are needed to find the change law in shear strength
for different types of soils over a wide suction range. The
triaxial shear tests were performed under net confining
pressure of 100 kPa in this paper, and the different net
Acta Geotechnica (2020) 15:265–278 277

30
3
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