A new Technique for Assessing Volume Change Behavior of Unsaturated Soils

Determination of volume change of unsaturated soils during loading and suction change is one of the most important difficulties in testing unsaturated specimens. It is revealed from literature review that various attempts have been made to invent an apparatus that can be used in testing on unsaturated soil specimens، simply and accurately. In this research، details of design and manufacture of a fully automatic 3-axial apparatus is explained، that can be used in measurement of volume change in unsaturated soils. Calibration procedure is also explained. To determine SWCC، some tests were conducted in anisotropic conditions. Results confirm the operation of apparatus. It is shown that SWCC is a function of excreted load.