Geomechanics and Engineering

Techno-Press (테크노프레스)
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A simplified method to estimate the total cohesion of unsaturated soil using an UC test

  • Lin, Horn-Da (Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology) ;
  • Wang, Chien-Chih (Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cheng Shiu University) ;
  • Wang, Xu-Hui (Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology)
  • Received : 2017.11.16
  • Accepted : 2018.11.10
  • Published : 2018.12.30
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Abstract

This study investigates the feasibility of adopting the results of the UC (unconfined compression) test to assess the total cohesion of the unsaturated soil. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on samples of unsaturated lateritic soils of northern Taiwan. Specifically, the unconfined compression test was combined with the pressure plate test to obtain the unconfined compression strength and its matric suction of the samples. Soil samples were first compacted at designated water content and then subjected to the wetting process for saturation and the subsequent drying process to its target suction using the apparatus developed by the authors. The correlations among the matric suction, the unconfined compression strength and the total cohesion were studied. As a result, a simplified method to estimate the total cohesion using the unconfined compressive strength is suggested. The calculated results compare reasonably with the unsaturated triaxial test results. Current results show good performance; however, further study is warranted.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan

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