Microstructurally Related Model for Predicting Behavior of Unsaturated Soils with Double Porosity in Triaxial Space

Abstract

The microstructure can have an important impact on the hydraulic and mechanical behaviors of unsaturated soil; therefore, it must be considered in constitutive models to enable accurate predictions of soil behavior. This paper focused on the constitutive modeling of soils that exhibited a dual porosity structure. Based on the assumption that macro and micropores contained in the double porosity structure had different influences on the mechanical and hydraulic behaviors, the effective degree of saturation (Se) was selected as a microstructural index. This microstructural index was implemented within Bishop’s effective stress-based approach and the Glasgow coupled (GCM) and modified Cam-Clay models (MCC) were adopted as the basic framework for the development of a constitutive model. Typical samples of low expansive, nonexpansive, and collapsible soils with dual porosity were selected to validate the model’s performance, and the model performed well when compared with experimental data for isotropic compression, triaxial shear, and wetting tests.