Analytical and experimental evaluation of two-layered unsaturated sand bearing capacity

Abstract

Pavement design methods based on principles of unsaturated soil mechanics take into account high soil shear strength due to matric suction resulting in more economical design especially in long roads. In this study, the bearing capacity of two-layer unsaturated sand was investigated using both analytical and experimental methods. At first, using the limit equilibrium method an analytical formula was proposed to determine the bearing capacity of two-layer unsaturated sand in which linear suction profile was considered in soil layers. It should be considered that the constant matric suction distribution assumed by the previous researchers does not show the real profile of matric suction within the soil, sometimes resulting in miscalculated unsaturated bearing capacity. Also, the bearing capacity of two-layer unsaturated poorly graded sand was investigated experimentally in different suctions by a special unsaturated chamber apparatus (UCA) designed for this purpose. The results show more than double increase of unsaturated soil bearing capacity with Sr  = 25% compared to saturated soil. The formation of failure wedges in all experiments was investigated by image processing. An acceptable agreement was obtained between the theoretical and experimental bearing capacity results.