Determination of water retention curves for one residual soil and two distinct non-woven geotextiles

Abstract

The water retention curves (WRC) presented in this study were determined for materials constituting prototypes of evapotranspirative capillary barrier coverage, which used gneissic residual soil and non-woven geotextile. The determination of the WRC was made possible by the hanging column test for the two distinct non-woven geotextiles and the hanging column and filter paper tests for the residual soil. Both tests were executed with both the drying and wetting trajectories. The curves were adjusted and the hydraulic conductivity functions were estimated, thus enabling a greater understanding of the hydraulic behavior of the materials involved. The non-woven geotextiles and residual soil presented WRC, as expected, similar to the WRC presented in the literature for similar materials.