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.

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202019501019

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.

Authors

K.M.A Alhaj

G. Biscontin

M.Z.E.B Elshafie

Professor Ashraf Osman ashraf.osman@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Contributors

R. Cardoso
Editor

C. Jommi
Editor

E. Romero
Editor

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). Water retention and characteristic curves representing tropical clay soils from Africa. In R. Cardoso, C. Jommi, & E. Romero (Eds.), 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020) proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202019501019

Conference Name	4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020)
Conference Location	ONLINE CONFERENCE
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

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© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).