A fractal-based approach for the volume change dependency of the Soil Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) in a deformable unsaturated soil is proposed. Models currently available in the literature for this purpose are mainly phenomenological in origin, associated with often expensive, time-consuming and error-prone parameter identification. In the present model, the SWCC is linked to soil particle and pore geometry information. Assuming a fractal structure for soil pores and incorporating the dependency of pore shapes and volumes on void ratio, variation of the SWCC with void ratio is quantified. In particular, the fractal dimension of pore size distribution varies with void ratio in the presented model, an aspect frequently neglected in the literature. It is shown that the predictions of the volume change dependency of the SWCC using the proposed model are in good agreement with the published experimental data.
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