Journal Published Online: 17 December 2020
Volume 44, Issue 2

Total Volume Change Measurement of Unsaturated Soil in Triaxial Tests: A New Approach

CODEN: GTJODJ

Abstract

In the evaluation of unsaturated soil behavior in the laboratory, it is required to measure the total volume change of triaxial soil specimens. This, however, is not an easy task, with setups proposed in the literature being quite expensive or presenting variable setbacks. In this context, this article presents a new, reliable, cheap system to estimate the total volume change of the soil in unsaturated conditions in triaxial tests. To do so, a double-chamber triaxial cell was developed, with the inner cell connected to an air-tight container subjected to the same cell pressure and positioned on a precision analytical scale. The measure of the total volume change is given by the mass of water entering or leaving the air-tight container. After calibration, the system was tested under consolidation using saturated soil samples. Comparing the conventional change in water volume of the saturated specimen with the variation of the total volume obtained through the developed system, a maximum difference of 0.01 cm3 is obtained, which equals only 0.01 % of the specimen volume. The effects of temperature and of cell pressure variation, which might occur during the saturation of unsaturated specimens in conventional triaxial tests, are also presented and discussed.

Author Information

de Campos, Tácio M. P.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
de O. Carvalho, Taíse M.
Civil Engineering Department, Federal Institute of Alagoas, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
Viana, Ana Carolina de C.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department,Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Pages: 15
Price: $25.00
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Details
Stock #: GTJ20200002
ISSN: 0149-6115
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ20200002