Abstract
A theoretically derived fractal based soil-water characteristic curve with hydraulic hysteresis is fitted to experimentally determined curves for three different soils. The assumptions used in the theoretical derivation, that pores act as either bodies or throats, and that bodies and throats each have fractal characteristics in their size distributions, are tested and found to be valid. As suction is increased along the main drying curve, drying of a body is controlled by the largest throat connected to it. As suction is reduced along the main wetting curve, the absorbed water collects in the smallest bodies and throats first, then fills larger bodies and throats in order of size.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bird, N.R.A., Perrier, E., Rieu, M.: The water retention function for a model of soil structure with pore and solid fractal distributions. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 51, 55–63 (2000)
Conner, W.C., Cevallos-Candau, J.F., Weist, E.L., Pajares, J., Mendioroz, S., Cortés, A.: Characterization of pore structure: porosimetry and sorption. Langmuir 2, 151–154 (1986)
Gitirana Jr., G., Fredlund, D.G.: Soil-water characteristic curve equation with independent properties. J. Geo. Geoenv. Eng. 130, 209–212 (2004)
Khalili, N., Habte, M.A., Zargarbashi, S.: A fully coupled flow deformation model for cyclic analysis of unsaturated soils including hydraulic and mechanical hysteresis. Comp. Geotech. 35, 872–889 (2008)
Miller, G.A., Khoury, C.N., Muraleetharan, K.K., Liu, C., Kibbey, T.C.G.: Effects of soil skeleton deformations on hysteretic soil water characteristic curves: Experiments and simulations. Water Res. Res. 44, W00C06 (2008)
Perfect, E., Kay, B.D.: Applications of fractals in soil and tillage research: a review. Soil Till. Res. 36, 1–20 (1995)
Russell, A.R.: Water retention characteristics of soils with double porosity. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 61, 412–424 (2010)
Russell, A.R.: A compression line for soils with evolving particle and pore size distributions due to particle crushing. Géotechnique Letters 1, 5–9 (2011)
Russell, A.R., Buzzi, O.: A fractal basis for soil-water characteristics curves with hydraulic hysteresis. Géotechnique 62, 269–274 (2012)
Topp, G.C.: Soil water hysteresis in silt loam and clay loam soils. Water Res. Res. 7, 914–920 (1971)
Tyler, S.W., Wheatcraft, S.W.: Application of fractal mathematics to soil water retention estimation. Soil Sci. Soc. America J. 53, 987–996 (1989)
Watson, K.K., Reginato, R.J., Jackson, R.D.: Soil water hysteresis in a field soil. Soil Sci. Soc. America J. 157, 345–355 (1975)
Wheeler, S.J., Sharma, R.S., Buisson, M.S.R.: Coupling of hydraulic hysteresis and stress strain behavior in unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 53, 41–54 (2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Russell, A.R. (2012). Fractal Soil-Water Characteristics with Hysteresis. In: Mancuso, C., Jommi, C., D’Onza, F. (eds) Unsaturated Soils: Research and Applications. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31343-1_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31343-1_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31342-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31343-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)