Effect of Temperature on the Soil-Water Retention Phenomena in Unsaturated Soils

Abstract

In unsaturated soil mechanics, the soil-water retention curve (SWRC) continues to play an important role, since it provides the necessary links between the properties and behaviour of unsaturated soils with a variety of engineering challenges. Temperature is acknowledged as one of the most influencial variables on the change of SWRC when compared to several other parameters. The goal of this research is to describe theoretical and experimental elements of the temperature effect on unsaturated soil water retention phenomena. Surface tension, contact angle, void ratio, particle size, and water density are five temperature-dependent factors that were accounted for in a closed-form model of non-isothermal SWRC. The SWRC of kaolinite clay was also measured at three different temperatures in an experimental program. The test findings reveal that when the temperature rises, the SWRC decreases significantly. The experimental results were then integrated with sixteen other available data sets covering a wide range of soil types, densities, and suction to create a complete verification program for analytical models. The proposed model has a good performance and reliability in forecasting the fluctuation of non-isothermal SWRC than any existing model, according to statistical assessment results. The analytical model can be used to examine the thermo-hydro-mechanical characteristics of unsaturated soils in numerical simulations.