The overturning stability is vital for the retaining wall design of foundation pits, where the surrounding soils are usually unsaturated due to water draining. Moreover, the intermediate principal stress does affect t...The overturning stability is vital for the retaining wall design of foundation pits, where the surrounding soils are usually unsaturated due to water draining. Moreover, the intermediate principal stress does affect the unsaturated soil strength; meanwhile, the relationship between the unsaturated soil strength and matric suction is nonlinear. This work is to present closed-form equations of critical embedment depth for a rigid retaining wall against overturning by means of moment equilibrium. Matric suction is considered to be distributed uniformly and linearly with depth. The unified shear strength formulation for unsaturated soils under the plane strain condition is adopted to characterize the intermediate principal stress effect, and strength nonlinearity is described by a hyperbolic model of suction angle. The result obtained is orderly series solutions rather than one specific answer; thus, it has wide theoretical significance and good applicability. The validity of this present work is demonstrated by comparing it with a lower bound solution. The traditional overturning designs for rigid retaining walls, in which the saturated soil mechanics neglecting matric suction or the unsaturated soil mechanics based on the Mohr-Coulomb criterion are employed, are special cases of the proposed result. Parametric studies about the intermediate principal stress, matric suction and its distributions along with two strength nonlinearity methods on a new defined critical buried coefficient are discussed.展开更多
A moisture-content based constitutive model was proposed based on the hyperbolic model as an attempt to move towards the implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into routine geotechnical engineering practice. The...A moisture-content based constitutive model was proposed based on the hyperbolic model as an attempt to move towards the implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into routine geotechnical engineering practice. The stress-strain behavior of in-situ soil at a depth of 5 m was investigated by conducting undrained triaxial compression tests using the remolded soil samples. The test results show that the stress-strain relationship of unsaturated cohesive soil is still hyperbolic. The values of parameters a and b given in the model decrease with increasing the confining pressure for soil samples with the same moisture content and increase with increasing the moisture content for soil samples under the same confining pressure. The relationships between parameters a, b and moisture content were studied for confining pressures of 100, 150, 200 and 250 kPa. The comparison between the measured and predicted stress-strain curves for an additional group of soil samples, having a moisture content of 25.4%, shows that the proposed moisture content-dependent hyperbolic model provides a good prediction of stress-strain behavior of unsaturated cohesive soil.展开更多
Pressure plate instrument is employed during drying, and unconfined compressive strength test is performed on the unsaturated specimen. Curves of shear force versus shear displacement, and curves of saturation degree ...Pressure plate instrument is employed during drying, and unconfined compressive strength test is performed on the unsaturated specimen. Curves of shear force versus shear displacement, and curves of saturation degree versus time are investigated. The results show that the specimens with similar curves of saturation degree versus time have nearly identical mechanical behavior. In particular, the uniform specimens should be chosen within the lower equilibrium saturation degree because steady test results are presented. Further, the conclusion is verified by the repeated test. Thus, the method for distinguishing the uniform unsaturated specimen is obtained. In the light of the method, an improved test process is proposed. The uniform specimens should be chosen by this method under the specific matric suction, and then shear tests are carried out on the chosen unsaturated specimen. Namely, initial value of unsaturated soil is not zero matric suction but a specific suction.展开更多
基金Project(41202191)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(2015JM4146)supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province,ChinaProject(2015)supported by the Postdoctoral Research Project of Shaanxi Province,China
文摘The overturning stability is vital for the retaining wall design of foundation pits, where the surrounding soils are usually unsaturated due to water draining. Moreover, the intermediate principal stress does affect the unsaturated soil strength; meanwhile, the relationship between the unsaturated soil strength and matric suction is nonlinear. This work is to present closed-form equations of critical embedment depth for a rigid retaining wall against overturning by means of moment equilibrium. Matric suction is considered to be distributed uniformly and linearly with depth. The unified shear strength formulation for unsaturated soils under the plane strain condition is adopted to characterize the intermediate principal stress effect, and strength nonlinearity is described by a hyperbolic model of suction angle. The result obtained is orderly series solutions rather than one specific answer; thus, it has wide theoretical significance and good applicability. The validity of this present work is demonstrated by comparing it with a lower bound solution. The traditional overturning designs for rigid retaining walls, in which the saturated soil mechanics neglecting matric suction or the unsaturated soil mechanics based on the Mohr-Coulomb criterion are employed, are special cases of the proposed result. Parametric studies about the intermediate principal stress, matric suction and its distributions along with two strength nonlinearity methods on a new defined critical buried coefficient are discussed.
基金Project(50608038) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘A moisture-content based constitutive model was proposed based on the hyperbolic model as an attempt to move towards the implementation of unsaturated soil mechanics into routine geotechnical engineering practice. The stress-strain behavior of in-situ soil at a depth of 5 m was investigated by conducting undrained triaxial compression tests using the remolded soil samples. The test results show that the stress-strain relationship of unsaturated cohesive soil is still hyperbolic. The values of parameters a and b given in the model decrease with increasing the confining pressure for soil samples with the same moisture content and increase with increasing the moisture content for soil samples under the same confining pressure. The relationships between parameters a, b and moisture content were studied for confining pressures of 100, 150, 200 and 250 kPa. The comparison between the measured and predicted stress-strain curves for an additional group of soil samples, having a moisture content of 25.4%, shows that the proposed moisture content-dependent hyperbolic model provides a good prediction of stress-strain behavior of unsaturated cohesive soil.
基金Project(51179023) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘Pressure plate instrument is employed during drying, and unconfined compressive strength test is performed on the unsaturated specimen. Curves of shear force versus shear displacement, and curves of saturation degree versus time are investigated. The results show that the specimens with similar curves of saturation degree versus time have nearly identical mechanical behavior. In particular, the uniform specimens should be chosen within the lower equilibrium saturation degree because steady test results are presented. Further, the conclusion is verified by the repeated test. Thus, the method for distinguishing the uniform unsaturated specimen is obtained. In the light of the method, an improved test process is proposed. The uniform specimens should be chosen by this method under the specific matric suction, and then shear tests are carried out on the chosen unsaturated specimen. Namely, initial value of unsaturated soil is not zero matric suction but a specific suction.
