Tensile Strength of Unsaturated Sand

Abstract

A theory that accurately describes tensile strength of wet sand is presented. A closed form expression for tensile strength unifies tensile strength characteristics in all three water retention regimes: pendular, funicular, and capillary. Tensile strength characteristically increases as soil water content increases in the pendular regime, reaches a peak in the funicular regime, and reduces with a continuing water content increase in the capillary regime. Three parameters are employed in the theory: internal friction angle (at low normal stress)