Mechanics of Unsaturated Geomaterials

Professor Lyesse Laloui is Director of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland and Adjunct Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Duke University, Durham, USA.

• Preface xvLyesse LALOUIPART I. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS 1Chapter 1. Basic Concepts in the Mechanics and Hydraulics of Unsaturated Geomaterials 3Alessandro TARANTINO1.1. Water retention mechanisms in capillary systems 41.2. Water retention behavior of geomaterials 91.3. Water retention mechanisms in geomaterials and the concept of suction 111.4. Water flow in capillary systems 181.5. Mechanical interactions at the microscale 201.6. Microscopic interpretation of volumetric“collapse “ and shear strength 231.7. Bibliography 27Chapter 2. Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils 29Lyesse LALOUI, Mathieu NUTH and Bertrand FRANCOIS2.1. Introduction 292.2. Stress states 302.3. Thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils 312.4. Effective stress in unsaturated soils 392.5. A coupled THM constitutive framework for unsaturated soils 432.6. Conclusion 512.7. Bibliography 51Chapter 3. Desiccation Cracking of Soils 55Herve PERON, Lyesse LALOUI, Liang-Bo HU and Tomasz HUECKEL3.1. Introduction 553.2. Physical processes involved in desiccation cracking of soils 563.3. Experimental characterization of desiccation process in soils and its controlling variables 693.4. Scenarios of soil desiccation crack pattern formation 743.5. Conclusion 793.6. Bibliography 80PART II. EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION 87Chapter 4. Experimental Techniques for Unsaturated Geomaterials 89Pierre DELAGE4.1. Introduction 894.2. Techniques for controlling suction 904.3. Techniques for measuring suction 944.4. Mechanical testing devices 974.5. Concluding remarks 1044.6. Bibliography 105Chapter 5. New Experimental Tools for the Characterization of Highly Overconsolidated Clayey Materials in Unsaturated Conditions 113Simon SALAGER, Alessio FERRARI and Lyesse LALOUI5.1. Introduction 1135.2. Sorption bench 1145.3. High pressure THM oedometric cell 1185.4. High pressure and high temperature THM triaxial cell 1225.5. Conclusions 1265.6. Bibliography 126Chapter 6. Field Measurement of Suction, Water Content and Water Permeability 129Alessandro TARANTINO6.1. Direct measurement of suction 1296.2. Indirect measurement of suction 1366.3. Measurement of water content 1406.4. Field measurement of water permeability 1506.5. Bibliography 151PART III. THEORITICAL DEVELOPMENTS 155Chapter 7. Hydromechanical Coupling Theory in Unsaturated Geomaterials and Its Numerical Integration 157Robert CHARLIER, Jean-Pol RADU, Pierre GERARD and Frederic COLLIN7.1. Introduction – problems to be treated 1577.2. Numerical tools: the finite element method 1637.3. Coupling various problems 1767.4. Acknowledgment 1827.5. Bibliography 182Chapter 8. Conservation Laws for Coupled Hydro-Mechanical Processes in Unsaturated Porous Media: Theory and Implementation 185Ronaldo I. BORJA and Joshua A. WHITE8.1. Introduction 1858.2. Mass and momentum conservation laws 1878.3. Balance of energy and the effective stress 1908.4. Formulation of boundary-value problem 1938.5. Numerical example 1988.6. Summary and conclusions 2058.7. Acknowledgements 2068.8. Bibliography 206Chapter 9. Strain Localization Modeling in Coupled Transient Phenomena 209Frederic COLLIN, Yannick SIEFFERT and Rene CHAMBON9.1. Introduction 2099.2. Experimental evidence 2109.3. Regularization techniques 2129.4. Numerical modeling 2159.5. Applications 2219.6. Conclusions 2279.7. Acknowledgment 2289.8. Bibliography 228PART IV. ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS 233Chapter 10. Modeling Landslides in Partially Saturated Slopes Subjected to Rainfall Infiltration 235John EICHENBERGER, Mathieu NUTH and Lyesse LALOUI10.1. Introduction: the hazard of shallow landslides 23510.2. Physical processes in unsaturated soil slopes 23610.3. Theoretical framework for unsaturated soils 23710.4. Numerical modeling of an unsaturated soil slope subjected to rainfall events 24210.5. Conclusion 24910.6. Bibliography 249Chapter 11. Thermally Induced Moisture Transport and Pore Pressure Generation in Nearly Saturated Geomaterials 251Antony P.S. SELVADURAI11.1. Introduction 25111.2. Modeling background 25211.3. Coupled heat and moisture diffusion 25311.4. Heat-induced moisture transport in a bentonite-sand mixture 25711.5. Computational simulations of the behavior of bentonite-sand mixture 26011.6. THM processes in a porous medium 26311.7. Computational modeling of the THM processes 26511.8. Experimental modeling of the THM processes in a cementitious block 26711.9. Comparison of experimental results and computational estimates 27011.10. Concluding remarks 27211.11. Acknowledgments 27311.12. Bibliography 274Chapter 12. Mechanics of Unsaturated Geomaterials Applied to Nuclear Waste Storage 279Antonio GENS12.1. Introduction 27912.2. THM phenomena in the near field 28212.3. Theoretical formulation and coupled analysis 28412.4. Coupled THM analyses of the unsaturated barrier and adjacent rock 28612.5. Conclusions 29912.6. Acknowledgments 30012.7. Bibliography 300Chapter 13. Soil–Pipeline Interaction in Unsaturated Soils 303Dilan ROBERT and Kenichi SOGA13.1. Introduction 30313.2. Large-scale physical model experiments 30413.3. Behavior of unsaturated sands 30813.4. Numerical modeling of the behavior of unsaturated sands 31413.5. Numerical modeling of the physical model experiments 31913.6. Dimensionless force – H/D relationship for pipelines in unsaturated soils 32113.7. Conclusions 32313.8. Acknowledgments 32413.9. Bibliography 324Chapter 14. Coefficient B, Consolidation, and Swelling in Fine Soils Near Saturation in Engineering Practice 327Luc BOUTONNIER14.1. Introduction 32714.2. Model assumptions 32814.3. How to determine the model? 34214.4. Why is it interesting for engineers? 34514.5. Application to Cubzac-les-Ponts experimental embankment 34614.6. Conclusion 34814.7. Bibliography 349Chapter 15. Geomechanical Analysis of River Embankments 353Cristina JOMMI and Gabriele DELLA VECCHIA15.1. Introduction 35315.2. Design specifications and materials 35515.3. Coupled hydro-mechanical modeling 36115.4. Simulation and interpretation of experimental data 36715.5. Final remarks 37115.6. Bibliography 373List of Authors 375Index 379