Critical state for overconsolidated unsaturated silty soil

Abstract

The critical state concepts have been investigated for an overconsolidated unsaturated silty soil through a comprehensive set of controlled suction triaxial laboratory experiments. The experimental tests were conducted in a specially designed double-walled Bishop and Wesley triaxial cell on samples of unsaturated silty soil. Isotropic loading, unloading, and triaxial drained shear tests were performed on samples of unsaturated silty soil with different overconsolidation ratios at various suctions. The data from the triaxial tests were used in the development of a critical state framework for overconsolidated unsaturated silty soil. The framework is defined in terms of four state variables: mean net stress (p'), deviator stress (q), suction (s), and specific volume (v). The results show that the critical state lines in q:p' space for different soil suctions are not parallel and merge with each other. The slopes and intercepts of these lines are functions of suction. However, the critical state lines are nearly parallel in the v – ln p' plane except under saturation conditions, and the slope and intercept of these lines are also functions of suction.