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Mechanical Testing in Unsaturated Soils

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Laboratory and Field Testing of Unsaturated Soils

Abstract

The state-of-the-art report presented herein is aimed at documenting, to the largest extent possible, some of the recent advances in laboratory testing of unsaturated soils for stress–strain–strength–stiffness characterization under suction-controlled isotropic, axisymmetric, and true triaxial stress states. The report is intended to be neither comprehensive nor fully inclusive, offering plenty of room for further discussion on recent refinements and techniques not yet reported in the literature. The main sections in this report are devoted to describing current methods and technologies using cylindrical triaxial systems, including advances in volume change measurements; resonant column/torsional shear systems; bender element-based systems; and suction-controlled testing under true triaxial stress states. Concluding remarks are included in the last section of the report.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, 416 Yates Street, Suite 417, 76019, TX, Arlington, USA

    Laureano R. Hoyos

  2. School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Lyesse Laloui

  3. Dipartimento di Strutture, Geotecnica, Geologia Applicata all’Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

    Roberto Vassallo

Authors
  1. Laureano R. Hoyos
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  2. Lyesse Laloui
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  3. Roberto Vassallo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laureano R. Hoyos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Università degli Studi di Trento, 38050, Trento, Italy

    Alessandro Tarantino

  2. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Enrique Romero

  3. Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, 77455, Marne la Vallee, France

    Yu-Jun Cui

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Hoyos, L.R., Laloui, L., Vassallo, R. (2008). Mechanical Testing in Unsaturated Soils. In: Tarantino, A., Romero, E., Cui, YJ. (eds) Laboratory and Field Testing of Unsaturated Soils. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8819-3_6

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