THE EFFECT OF SOIL TYPE ON SOIL-WATER AND UNSATURATED HYDRAULIC CHARACTERISTICS

In most parts of the planet including Iran, soil layers are above the groundwater level and in unsaturated state. Various activities associated with soils, such as subsurface explorations, foundation engineering and building constructions in unsaturated soils, etc., necessitate the study of the properties of unsaturated soils. Historically, the studies and activities were associated with the precedence of saturated soils over the saturated soils owing to the strong theoretical basis and low cost of saturated soils. Consequently, the need for understanding the behavior and properties of the unsaturated soils is a great concern for engineers and professionals when dealing with that type of soils. Important issues for predicting geotechnical behavior of unsaturated soils include the determination of the soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) and unsaturated hydraulic conductivities. The SWCCs has been found to be a conceptual and interpretative tool by which the behavior of unsaturated soils can be understood. The SWCCs define the relationship between soil matric suction (the difference between the air and water pressure in the soil) and the gravimetric water content. In this study, in order to accurately analyze the geotechnical behavior and recognize the effect of soil type on soil-water and hydraulic characteristics of unsaturated soils including sand, silt and clay, three types of soil with different particle sizes were studied from the Nazlo region of Urmia city. To achieve SWCCs, a Pressure Plate apparatus with a pressure control panel was designed and built. Laboratory \ results were \ analyzed with \ Brooks-Corey and Van \ Genuchten models \ implemented in RETC computer code. The suction-hydraulic conductivity relationships of the soil samples were analyzed with the Brooks-Corey and Burdine model as well as the Van Genuchten and Mualem model. By analyzing the results of laboratory SWCCs up to 200 kPa matric suction, it was verified that as fine grained particles of the soil samples increased, the water holding capacity of the soils also increased. Consequently, the air-entry value, residual water content, and saturated water content increased. This finding shows the important effect of texture and particle size of the soils.