Laboratory tests under different constraint conditions were carried out to obtain the soil-water retention curves(SWRCs) of highly-compacted confined/unconfined Gaomiaozi(GMZ) bentonite at 20,40 and 80 ℃,respectively. The effect of temperature on the soil-water characteristics of the highly-compacted GMZ bentonite was analyzed. The results show that the water retention capacity of the highly-compacted GMZ bentonite decreases as the temperature increases under unconfined and confined conditions. At a certain temperature,the constraint conditions have little influence on the water retention capacity of the compacted bentonite at high suction,but the water retention capacity of the confined specimen is lower than that of the unconfined specimen at low suction. Under unconfined conditions,the hysteretic behaviour of the compacted bentonite decreases with increasing temperature. At high suction(>4 MPa) ,the hysteretic behaviour of the unconfined bentonite tends to increase with the decrease of the suction. In summary,the hysteretic behaviour of the compacted bentonite is not significant.
To study the weakly expansive clay obtained from a slope along Wuhan-Shiyan expressway in Hubei Province,soil-water property tests and some unsaturated triaxial tests with suction control were conducted,and the soil-water retention curve(SWRC) and unsaturated shear strength of this soil were obtained.Results show that the air-entry suction and the residual degree of saturation of the tested soil are 106 kPa and 8%,respectively.The boundary effect zone and the transition zone can be identified on the desorption curve,but the residual zone is not so obvious.The unsaturated shear strength increases as suction increases within the range of controlled suction in the test,and friction angle,~b,in the triaxial shear test is 17.6°.Based on the results,constitutive models for predicting the unsaturated shear strength using the SWRC were evaluated,and comparisons between prediction and measurement were made.It is concluded that for engineering purpose,the constitutive model should be carefully selected based on soil properties when predicting the unsaturated shear strength using the SWRC.
