NEED FOR MECHANICS OF UNSATURATED SOILS IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE APPLICATIONS USING SIMPLE TECHNIQUES

　　岩土工程实践需要基于非饱和土力学的简单实用方法

　　Sai K. Vanapalli, PhD., P.Eng.

　　Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Canada

　　High-end Foreign Expert Professor, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

　　时间：2016年10月27日下午2:30-4:00 地点：土木建筑工程学院力学楼四楼会议室

　　联系人：邹维列 电话：13627232863 E-mail:zwilliam@126.com

ABSTRACT

　　Most of the surficial soils in nature are found in astate of unsaturated condition, especially in semi-arid and arid regions where more than two-thirds of the world’s population of 7.3 billion is concentrated. In these regions, including in China; expansive, collapsible and residual soils which are typical examples of unsaturated soils are widely distributed. In addition, compacted soils which are manmade and widely used in construction of earth structures such as dams, pavements, and slopes are typically in a state of unsaturated condition.Unlike saturated soils; which have only two phases (i.e. soil and water); unsaturated soils have three phases (i.e. soil, air, and water). For this reason, classical saturated soil mechanics principles cannot be extended for soils that are in a state of unsaturated condition. However, mechanics of unsaturated soils are not being extended in day-to-day practice because the presently available approaches for interpreting unsaturated soils in the literature are both complex and expensive. The presentation discusses the need for using the mechanics of unsaturated soils. Most importantly, focus of this presentation will be on using simple techniques that can be used by for implementation of mechanics of unsaturated soils in conventional geotechnical engineering practice.