Water retention and characteristic curves representing tropical clay soils from Africa

Alhaj, K.M.A; Biscontin, G.; Elshafie, M.Z.E.B; Osman, A.S.

Abstract

Soil water retention curves (SWRCs) form an essential component of frameworks coupling the hydromechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils. The curves describe how suction changes with variables such as degree of saturation, void ratio and volumetric/gravimetric water content. SWRCs can be determined from incrementally drying initially saturated reconstituted samples to a final residual state, thus developing the primary drying curve (PDC). The primary wetting curve (PWC) is established from subsequent incremental wetting from residual state and is hysteretic compared with the PDC. SWRCs for reconstituted, high-plasticity, tropical clays from Africa (Sudan, Tanzania and South Africa) will be produced using suction measuring instruments, a tensiometer, filter paper and a dew point potentiometer. The development of SWRCs under various subsequent cycles of drying will be presented and discussed along with details concerning volumetric changes and cracking during drying. In order to investigate the uniqueness of the PDC and PWC and the effect of initial void ratio, SWRCs will be determined for samples formed by reconstituted from slurry under different applied energy levels.

Citation

Alhaj, K., Biscontin, G., Elshafie, M., & Osman, A. (2020, December). Water retention and characteristic curves representing tropical clay soils from Africa. Presented at 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020), ONLINE CONFERENCE

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020)
• Online Publication Date: Oct 16, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 22, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 24, 2020
• Volume: 195
• Series Title: E3S Web of Conferences
• Series ISSN: 2267-1242
• Edition: EDP Sciences
• Book Title: 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020) proceedings
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202019501019
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1139377