Publication

A generalised water retention model with soil fabric evolution

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel soil water retention curve model that considers two different mechanisms of water retention –namely capillarity and adsorption – and their evolution with soil fabric along a generalized stress path. The model is formulated based on a new developed framework, which is justified against experimental evidence and incorporates the following developments: (i) the characteristics of the capillary and adsorption water retention curves are identified, and an ad-hoc water retention model is developed for each mechanism; (ii) the capillary and adsorption water retention curves are related to the experimentally determinable water retention curve thanks to a newly defined parameter named “contribution factor”, which changes with the evolution of the fabric. The proposed model is an elastoplastic water retention model and it allows to describe satisfactorily the water retention capacity of different soils. All simulation results support the statement that the adsorptive mechanism plays a crucial rule in the high suction range while capillarity is important in the low suction range. Moreover, it is shown that the developed capillary water retention curve allows to easily compute, at any state of the soil, a suitable capillary degree of saturation; the latter, adopted within the generalised effective stress concept, makes it possible to interpret shear strength data under different saturation conditions properly.

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Related concepts (33)
Soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from soil by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil. Soil consists of a solid phase of minerals and organic matter (the soil matrix), as well as a porous phase that holds gases (the soil atmosphere) and water (the soil solution). Accordingly, soil is a three-state system of solids, liquids, and gases.
Soil biology
Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity and ecology in soil. Soil life, soil biota, soil fauna, or edaphon is a collective term that encompasses all organisms that spend a significant portion of their life cycle within a soil profile, or at the soil-litter interface. These organisms include earthworms, nematodes, protozoa, fungi, bacteria, different arthropods, as well as some reptiles (such as snakes), and species of burrowing mammals like gophers, moles and prairie dogs.
Infiltration (hydrology)
Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. It is commonly used in both hydrology and soil sciences. The infiltration capacity is defined as the maximum rate of infiltration. It is most often measured in meters per day but can also be measured in other units of distance over time if necessary. The infiltration capacity decreases as the soil moisture content of soils surface layers increases. If the precipitation rate exceeds the infiltration rate, runoff will usually occur unless there is some physical barrier.
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