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Mechanics in
Engineering
Professor Delwyn G. Fredlund
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
• Introduction
• Challenges to Implementation
• Description of the Stress State
• Fundamental Constitutive Relations
• Role of the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve
• Use of SWCC in the Constitutive Relations
• Solution of a Series of PDEs
• Modeling Unsaturated Soils Problems
Objectives
• Challenge #1:
– To discover appropriate Stress State
Variables for describing the physical
behavior of unsaturated soils
• Solution #1:
?
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #2:
To develop devices that could measure a wide
range of negative pore-water pressures (i.e.,
high matric suctions)
• Solution #2:
?
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #3:
– To develop (and test for uniqueness)
constitutive relations suitable for describing
unsaturated soil behavior
• Solution #3:
?
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #4:
– To overcome the excessive costs
associated with the determination (i.e.,
measurement) of unsaturated soil
properties (i.e., nonlinear functions)
• Solution #4:
?
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #5:
– To solve nonlinear partial differential
equations for unsaturated soils without
having convergence difficulties during the
iterative solution process
• Solution #5:
?
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #6:
– To promote and teach unsaturated soil
mechanics at universities and in
engineering practice
• Solution #6:
?
Local vertical
zones of
unsaturated soils
Regional distribution
of unsaturated soils
SATURATED
GROUNDWATER TABLE
SOIL
35
(%)
Transition
30 zone
Gravimetric water content, w
5 Residual
condition
0
0.1 1.0 10. 100. 1000. 10,000 100,000 1000,000
Soil suction (kPa)
Unsaturated Soil REV as a Four Phase System
REV = Representative Elemental Volume -Two Phases that
Air deform and come to
Soil particles rest under a stress
Contractile skin gradient (SOLIDS)
-Soil structure
-Contractile skin
Water -Two phases that
continuously flow
under a stress
gradient (FLUIDS)
-Water
-Air
Structure and Stresses in the Contractile Skin
thickness of the
Air contractile skin
Water
t90/10 Liquid water density
B
PN
Thickness:
1.5 to 2 water molecules or
Water vapor density
about 5°A (Israelachvili, 1991;
Townsend and Rice, 1991)
• Challenge #1:
– To discover appropriate Stress State
Variables for describing the physical
behavior of unsaturated soils
(ua - uw) (σy - ua)
• Solution #1: τyz
τyx
– Designation of independent
(ua - uw)
Stress State Variables based τxz
(ua - uw)
(σx - ua)
on multiphase continuum τzx τxy
mechanics principles τzy
(σz - ua)
Definition of stress state at a point in an
unsaturated soil
(ua - uw) (σy - ua)
• Defines the τyz
stress state at a τyx
point in a
(ua - uw)
continuum
τxz
• State variables (ua - uw)
are independent (σx - ua)
of soil τzx τxy
properties τzy
(σz - ua)
σ *ij = σij – [S uw + (1 – S) ua ] δ ij
σij = total stress tensor,
δij = Kroneker delta or substitution tensor,
σ *ij = Bishop’s soil skeleton stress (Jommi
2000)
S = degree of saturation
• Challenge #2:
- To develop devices that can measure a wide
range of negative pore-water pressures (i.e., high
matric suctions)
• Solution #2:
- New instrumentation such as
the high suction tensiometers
and indirect thermal conductivity
suction sensors provide viable
techniques for the laboratory
and the field
Monitoring for Verification Purposes
200.0
T 1-3
T 3-11 T 4-14
150.0
Suction (kPa)
T 4-14
T 5-16
125.0
suction
T 5-16
100.0 T 1-3
MatricMatric
75.0
50.0
T 2-8
25.0
T 3-11
Equalization
0.0
15-Sep-00 5-Oct-00 25-Oct-00 14-Nov-00 4-Dec-00 24-Dec-00
Time (Days)
Time (Days)
Direct, high suction sensor used to measure suctions greater than
one atmosphere on the side of a triaxial specimen (Meilani, 2004)
Filter paper
Latex rubber, to seal the
rubber
membrane and grommet
Mini suction probe
Specimen
O - ring
5 – bar high air-entry ceramic
disk
Water in the compartment is pre-pressurized
to destroy cavitation nuclei
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #3:
– To develop (and test for uniqueness)
constitutive relations suitable for Void
describing unsaturated soil behavior ratio
e
• Solution #3: am
at
- Constitutive relations for
saturated soils needed to
Matric suction
be extended to embrace the ess (ua - uw)
t r
effect of changing degrees m al s
r
t no - u a)
of saturation Ne (σ
Fundamental Constitutive Relations for
Unsaturated Soils
• Constitutive Behaviors in Classic Soil Mechanics:
– Seepage
– Shear strength
– Volume-mass changes: Void ratio, water content
changes
uw
h = +Y Driving potential for water flow is
ρwg hydraulic head, h
dh
vx = − k wx Darcy’s law (1856) for flow in the x-,
dx y-, and z-direction
dh
v y = −k wy
dy
Coefficient of permeability, kw is a
dh function of matric suction; therefore,
vz = − k wz the flow law is nonlinear and subject
dz to hysteresis
Shape of the water permeability function for glass
beads tested by Mualem (1976 )
1.E-01
Coefficient of permeability (m/s)
Drying
1.E-02
1.E-03 Wetting
1.E-04
Drying
Drying
Wetting
Wetting
1.E-05
1.E-06
0.1 1 10
Soil suction
Soil suction (kPa)
(kPa)
The SWCC for the glass beads showing
hysteresis during drying and wetting
100
Degree of saturation, %
80 Drying
60
Drying Wetting
40 Wetting
20
0
0.1 1 10
Soil
Soil suction
suction(kPa)
(kPa)
Hysteresis in the SWCC produces hysteresis in
the Permeability function
Water Storage in an Unsaturated Soil
Water content, %
40
Soil-Water Characteristic
30
Curve, SWCC
20
8
Water storage
τ = c + (σ n − ua ) tan φ + (ua − u w ) f1
' '
Air entry
value
φ’
c’
Net normal stress, (σ - ua)
100
250
(σf - ua)f = 72.6 kPa φ’ = 25.5
200 Multistage direct
150 AEV = 60 kPa shear test results
100 on compacted
(σf - ua)f tan φ’= 34.6 kPa glacial till (Gan et
50
c’ = 10 kPa
0
al., 1988)
0 100 200 300 400 500
Matric suction, (ua-uw) (kPa)
Reference compression curves for a
Saturated Soil
Cc
λ =
v = (1+e)
Elasto-plastic ≈ 0 . 434 C c
form ln( 10 )
e κ =
Cs
≈ 0 . 434 C s
Yield ln( 10 )
stress
Specific volume
Void ratio
Preconsolidation
pressure
Cs Classic soil
mechanics form
Cc
p0 Ln(p) σ0 Log(σ)
Effective mean
Effective stress
mean stress Effective
Effectivevertical
verticalstress
stress
Volume–Mass Constitutive Surfaces for Regina Clay
Preconsolidated at 200 kPa (Pham, 2004)
Void ratio, e
2.5
2
Yield 2.5
Yield 2
Void ratio
1.5
1.5
Void ratio
1
0.5 1
0
Residual value 0.5
Lo 0. 01 . 1
g 0 1 0
so 10 0 0
il s .
So uc 10 0
0 0 1
1
0.
1 01
il s
tio
n
1
10 000 10 0 )
uc (k
Pa 00 0 0
1
10 e +0 6 0
10
0
0 s s (kPa
0 tre
tio 1 00 an s
n
) 0
ne t m e
l stress
L o g
Net tota
Volume–Mass Constitutive Surfaces for Regina Clay
Preconsolidated at 200 kPa (Pham, 2004)
Water content, w
SWCC
0.8 Yield Yield
Gravimetric water content
0.7
0.8
0.6
0.7
Void ratio, e
2.5
2
Yield 2.5
Yield 2
Void ratio
1.5
1.5
Void ratio
1
0.5 1
0
Residual value 0.5
Lo 0. 01 . 1
g 0 1 0
so 10 0 0
il s .
So uc 10 0
0 0 1
1
0.
1 01
il s
tio
n
1
10 000 10 0 )
uc (k
Pa 00 0 0
1
10 e +0 6 0
10
0
0 s s (kPa
0 tre
tio 1 00 an s
n
) 0
ne t m e
l stress
L o g
Net tota
Volume–Mass Constitutive Surfaces for Regina Clay
Preconsolidated at 200 kPa (Pham, 2004)
Water content, w
SWCC
0.8 Yield Yield
Gravimetric water content
0.7
0.8
0.6
0.7
Degree of saturation, S
1.25 Air entry value
Degree of saturation (S)
1 1.25
0.5
Residual value 0.75
0.25 0.5
0 0.25
Lo 0. 01 . 1
g 0 1 0
so 10 0 0
il s 0. . 01
uc 10 00 1 1
tio 10 10
So n 10 000 0 1
10
Pa )
il su (k 10 000 6 1 000
0 ss ( k
Pa 1e +0 00
n str
e
c ti ) 00
et m
ea
s tre ss
on Lo g n
tota l
Net
Volume–Mass Water content, w
Constitutive Surfaces for
0.3 AEV
Beaver Creek Sand
0.2
0.1 0.15
0.05 0.1
Basic volume-mass equation 0 0.05
Lo 0. 01 . 1
S e = w Gs g
so
il s
0 1
10 0
10 00 0. 0.
01
0
uc 1 1
tio 10 00 10
10
n 10 0000 0 a)
(k 0 6 1 10 0 s (kP
Pa 1 0 0 0 tre s
Void ratio, e ) 1e+ 000 0
Lo g
ne t
mea
n s
0.67
0.62375
Degree of saturation, S
0.67
0.5775
0.62375 1.25
Void ratio (e)
0.53125
0.5775 1 1.25
Degreeof saturation
0.485
Degreeof saturation
0.75
0.485
0.3925 0.75
0.43875 0.5
0.34625
0.3925 0.25 0.5
0.3
0.34625
0. 01 . 1 0 0.25
Lo 0 1
g 0.3 Lo 0. 01
so 10 0. 0 g 0. 1 1 0
il s 1 0 0 0. 1 so
uc 1 10 0 0.
10 1
il
ti o 10 0000 10
su
cti 10 00 1
0.
1 01
n( 00 10 000 10
kP 110 000 0 6 1 10 0 (kPa )
on
10 000 0 10
10
s (k
Pa )
1e +0 0 00 00
0
a)
an s tre ss (k
Pa 10 1e +0 6 100 00
n s tre s
0 et me ) 00 mea
Lo g n Lo g
ne t
Volume–Mass Constitutive Surfaces for Beaver Creek
Sand (Pham, 2004)
Water content, w
0.3
Air entry value
Gravimetric water content
0.25 0.3
Water content
30 Experimental
procedures have been
20
developed to obtain
unsaturated soil property 10
0
0.1 1 10 100 1000
Soil suction (kPa)
Specimen 1
10
Specimen 2 Residual = 120 kPa
Specimen 3
5 Residual = 62 kPa
0
0.1 1 10 100 1000
Soil suction (kPa)
Pressure Plate Apparatus to Measure Void Ratio and Water
Content While Applying Total Stress and Matric Suction
Manufactured by
GCTS, Tempe, AZ
Air supply
High air
entry disk
Fifteen bar Pressure
Plate equipment
manufactured by
GCTS, U.S.A.
16
Drying
Specimen 1
Equations to Best-Fit
12
Specimen 2
Specimen 3 SWCC Data
8
Wetting Numerous equations have
4
been proposed:
0
0.1 1 10
Soil suction (kPa)
100 1000 -Brooks & Corey (1964)
ws - van Guenuchten (1980)
w (ψ ) = C (ψ ) ×
{ln[ e + (ψ ) n f ]} m f Asymmetry Variable
a f
Rate of desaturation
Correction Factor
Air entry value
ln(1 + ψ ψ = Soil suction
ψr)
C (ψ ) = 1 −
ln[1 + (1000000
ψr) Fredlund and Xing (1994)
Hysteresis in the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve
• Hysteretic SWCC Models will eventually be
available for geotechnical usage
• Presently, the Geotechnical Engineer must decide
which curve to use:
– Select wetting curve or drying curve based on
process being simulated
• Hysteresis loop shift at point of inflection:
– Sands: 0.15 to 0.35 Log cycle
• Average: 0.25 Log cycle
Estimation
– Loam soils: 0.35 to 0.60 Log cycle
Values
• Average: 0.50 Log cycle
Model measurements of water content and matric suction
showing the SWCC relationship from water contents and
matric suctions during wetting and drying simulations (Tami
et al, 2004)
Section B Section M Section T
Volumetric water content, θw
0.4
0.3 III-D
III-W III-D
IV&V-D III-W
0.2 IV&V-D III-D
I&II-D III-W
I&II-D IV&V-D
0.1
IV&V-W IV&V-W
IV&V-W
I&II-D
0.0
1 10 1 10 1 10
Soil suction (kPa)
Suctions with Tensiometers Water content with TDR
Approaches that can be used to obtain the
Soil–Water Characteristic curves
Decreasing accuracy
Soil-Water Characteristic Curve computed
from a Grain Size Distribution Curve
100
30 Experimental
20
10 Fredlund et al,1997
0.0
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 1E+5 1E+6
Suction (kPa)
Incorporation of SWCC into the Constitutive
Relations for Unsaturated Soils
1 − (αψ ) n − 2 [1 + (αψ ) n ]− m
kr (ψ ) =
Burdine (1953) [1 + (αψ ) n ]2n kr (ψ ) = (αψ ) −2 − 3λ
2
m =1−
n
θ (e y ) − θ (ψ )
b
∫
ln(ψ )
ey
θ ' (e y )dy
ψ − 2−
2
Child and Collis – kr = kr = ( ) b
θ (e y ) − θ s ψ aev
b
George (1950)
∫
ln(ψ aev )
ey
θ ' (e y )dy
1.E-05
Experimental data
1.E-06
1.E-07 Van Genuchten - Mualem
1.E-08 Brooks and
1.E-09 Fredlund and Xing
Corey
1.E-10
Van Genuchten Overall
1.E-11
- Burdine Kw + Kv
1.E-12
1.E-13 Campbell
Vapor
1.E-14 Kv
1.E-15
1.E-16
1.E-17
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1E+06
Soil suction (kPa)
Shear Strength Constitutive Equation Written in
Terms of SWCC
θ −θr
Vanapalli et al. (1996) Θn = SWCC
θs −θr
Boundary
w ∂ h
2
∂k ∂h w
w ∂ h
∂k y ∂h
w 2
∂h
kx + + ky
x
+ = − m2 γ w
w
∂x 2
∂x ∂x ∂y 2
∂y ∂y ∂t
Pore-air pressure
(primary variable to be solved)
∂ 2ua ∂ 2 u a ∂k a ⎛ ∂u a ⎞ ∂k a ⎛ ∂u a ⎞ ⎛ e w ⎞ ω a g ∂u a
ka + ka + ⎜ ⎟+ ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = −⎜ S a − u a m2 ⎟
∂x 2
∂y 2
∂x ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ∂y ⎝ ∂y ⎠ ⎝1+ e ⎠ RT ∂t
∂ ⎡ ∂u ∂v ⎤ ∂ ⎡ ⎛ ∂u ∂v ⎞⎤
⎢ D11 + D12 ⎥ + ⎢ D44 ⎜⎜ + ⎟⎟⎥ = 0 X–
∂x ⎣ ∂x ∂y ⎦ ∂y ⎣ ⎝ ∂y ∂x ⎠⎦
Y–
∂ ⎡ ⎛ ∂u ∂v ⎞ ⎤ ∂ ⎡ ∂u ∂v ⎤
⎢ D44 ⎜ + ⎟ ⎥ + ⎢ D12 + D11 ⎥ + γ t = 0
∂x ⎣ ⎝ ∂y ∂x ⎠ ⎦ ∂y ⎣ ∂x ∂y ⎦
D11, D12, D44 = Combination of E and µ which are function of
soil suction and net total stresses
Stress-deformation analyses have a degrees of freedom in
each of the Cartesian coordinate directions
Convergence of Nonlinear Partial
Differential Equations
Equipotential lines
Problem illustrating the solution of a 3-dimensional,
saturated-unsaturated seepage PDE
Optimized, automatically
generated finite element mesh
DP Ge ne ra te d
Critic a l S lip S urfa ce
30 FOS = 1.3
Shape and location of the slip
25 surface are a part of the solution
20 DP Search Bounda ry
15
10
0
Finite Ele me nt S he a r S tre ss
0 20 40 60 80
Dista nce
Prediction of Heave or Collapse of a Soil
Coupled
Uncoupled
Pseudo-coupled
Saturated-Unsaturated Saturated-Unsaturated
Seepage Model Stress-Deformation
Computes changes in Model
matric suction Computes deformations
Scenario of Edge Lift for a Flexible
Impervious Cover
Flux = 0
1 Flux = 0
CL
2
Constant suction = 400 kPa
3
0 3 6 9 12
Distance from centre of cover or slab, m
Can have one optimized Adaptive Mesh
generated for seepage model and another
for the stress-deformation model
SVFlux
and
SVSolid
Concrete slab
0
Depth, m
1
C
L
2
3
0 3 6 9 12
Distance from center, m
Matric Suction at Ground Surface after One Day of
Infiltration for Various Infiltration Rates
q = 60 mm/day
15
10 q = 50
q = 40
5 q = 30
q = 20
q = 10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Distance from centre of cover, m
SVSolid
Challenges to the Implementation of
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
• Challenge #6:
– To promote implementation of unsaturated soil
mechanics into engineering practice
• Solution #6:
- Educational materials
and visualization tools
have been produced to
better teach and
understand unsaturated
soil mechanics
Concluding Remarks
• Unsaturated Soil Mechanics needs to be first
understood from the standpoint of the Constitutive
equations describing soil behavior
• Constitutive Equations can be written in terms of
the SWCC for the soil which are then known as
Unsaturated Soil Property Functions, USPF
• Direct and Indirect procedures are available for the
assessment of the SWCC
• It is always possible to obtain an estimate of the
required Unsaturated Soil Property Functions for
geotechnical engineering applications
Karl Terzaghi deserves
credit not only for the
fundamentals of saturated
soil behavior but also for
the fundamentals of
unsaturated soil behavior