A Laboratory Procedure for Measuring High Soil Suction

摘要

Measurement of soil suction is important for geotechnical and geoenvironmental projects involving unsaturated soils. Most of the methodologies developed for measuring soil suction are limited to low range of suction (<1500 kPa). Those methodologies that can measure high suction (> 1500 kPa) are costly, time intensive and require skilled person for suction measurement. Therefore, a simple, cost-effective and relatively less time consuming measurement methodology has been proposed in this study for easy and quick measurement of high range of soil suction. The instrument essentially consists of a commercially available relative humidity sensor secured in a fabricated relative humidity box. The total suction for three soils measured using the proposed methodology has been compared with the conventional filter paper method. The study demonstrates the usefulness and advantage of the proposed cost-effective methodology for measuring high range of soil suction, in a relatively less time.