Prof. D. N. Singh

SREEDEEP SEKHARAN

M.Tech.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, India sree3s@rediffmail.com

LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS ON SOIL SUCTION MEASUREMENT

The study of unsaturated soil mechanics pivots around the measurement of the suction (negative pore pressure) existing in it. The role of soil suction in geotechnical engineering and its practice is very well recognized and various models which incorporate its effect on the soil properties have been developed by various researchers. However, it has been noticed that a systematic study revealing influence of various physical parameters of the soil mass (such as type of the soil, particle size distribution, and the state of its compaction i.e. moisture content, dry density and saturation) has not been taken up by the researchers in detail. Such a study would be of a great help in understanding various parameters which influence soil suction directly or indirectly, and hence would be helpful in determining unsaturated properties of the soil mass. With this in view, an effort has been made in this dissertation to measure suction of the soil mass, compacted at different moisture contents and dry densities, using tensiometers and a pressure plate apparatus. Based on the measured suction values, the soil water characteristic curves, SWCCs, have been developed.