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An automated testing device for continuous measurement of the hysteretic water retention curve of granular media
Citation Link: https://doi.org/10.15480/882.2928
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2020-02-11
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Institut
TORE-DOI
TORE-URI
Journal
Volume
15
Issue
8
Start Page
2239
End Page
2257
Citation
Acta Geotechnica 15 (8): 2239-2257 (2020-08-01)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
Publisher
Springer
The water retention curve (WRC), representing an important key for the modelling of hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils, is still not fully understood, because it originates from microscopic hydraulic and capillary phenomena. Furthermore, its experimental measurement, especially for cyclic drainage and imbibition paths, is challenging and time-consuming. In this contribution, a recently developed low-cost easy-to-use miniature testing device for the investigation of the WRC of unsaturated granular soils, such as coarse-grained sand and a packing of glass beads, is presented. With the help of the new device, that can be controlled by a Raspberry Pi single-board computer, the hysteretic WRC can be investigated in a conventional macroscopic approach by plotting the macroscopic specimen degree of saturation versus measured matric suction. The test set-up allows an automatic measurement of the WRC which is measured continuously following a programmed test procedure. In addition to the technical realisation of the new device, this contribution focuses on macroscopic results of water retention tests. Moreover, the testing device has been designed in a miniaturised size, in order to obtain microscopic insights into the phase distribution during cyclic drainage and imbibition paths with the help of computed tomography in future applications.
Subjects
Single-board computers
Suction measurement
Unsaturated granular soils
Water retention behaviour
X-ray computed tomography
DDC Class
550: Geowissenschaften
More Funding Information
Funding by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)
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publishedVersion
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