HYDRO-MECHANICAL COUPLING IN UNSATURATED COMPACTED CLAYEY SOILS : MODELLING THE WATER RETENTION BEHAVIOUR

Gabriele Della Vecchia (1) , C. Jommi (2) , E. Romero (2)

1 DAC - Departament d'Arquitectura de Computadors - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
2 LSI - Llenguatges i Sistemes Informàtics

Some results of an experimental investigation focused on the study of hydro-mechanical coupling in unsaturated compacted soil, related to the evolution of water retention properties are briefly commented. A model for water retention domain is suggested, that succedes in tracking the evolution of the retention properties along generalised hydro-mechanical paths. A dependence of intra-aggregate pore space on water content, ruled by clay activity, is introduced. The evolution of inter-aggregate water content, following variations of void ratio, comes naturally from a suitable dependence of the analytical function chosen to describe the complete water retention domain.

Mots clés: Clayey soils; Partial saturation; Water retention; Hydro-mechanical coupling; Double porosity

Domaines: Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]

Gabriele Della Vecchia, C. Jommi, E. Romero. HYDRO-MECHANICAL COUPLING IN UNSATURATED COMPACTED CLAYEY SOILS : MODELLING THE WATER RETENTION BEHAVIOUR. W(H)YDOC 08 : 3rd international workshop of young doctors in geomechanics, Nov 2008, Champs sur Marne, France. pp. 21-24. ⟨hal-00510401⟩