Influence of matric suction on shear strength behavior of a residual clayey soil

In this paper, the shear strength with respect to the matric suction of unsaturated soils was studied. For this purpose, unsaturated triaxial testing procedures were applied to the undisturbed residual soil specimens. An apparatus for performing triaxial tests was designed and constructed. In the tests, matric suction was controlled by using the axis translation technique, and pore water volume changes were measured by means of a volume change transducer with 10−8 m3 sensitivity. The test results indicated that the matric suction contributes to the shear strength of unsaturated soil specimens, and this contribution called suction strength varies non-linearly with respect to the matric suction. The logarithmic model needing to know the air-entry value and the internal friction angle of a soil specimen for prediction of the suction strength were presented and compared with the test results. It was found that suction strength values predicted from the proposed model were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.

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