Determining Soil-Water Characteristic Curves from Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter Test Data Using Fractal Theory

Gaoliang Tao, Yin Chen, Henglin Xiao, Qingsheng Chen and Juan Wan
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Gaoliang Tao: Hubei Provincial Ecological Road Engineering Technology Research Center, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Yin Chen: Hubei Provincial Ecological Road Engineering Technology Research Center, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Henglin Xiao: Hubei Provincial Ecological Road Engineering Technology Research Center, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Qingsheng Chen: Hubei Provincial Ecological Road Engineering Technology Research Center, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Juan Wan: Hubei Provincial Ecological Road Engineering Technology Research Center, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: Accurate determination of soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is of immense importance for understanding the mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils. Due to the difficulty and long duration of experimental procedures, it is of great significance to estimate the SWCC by indirect methods. To address this issue, in this article an effective fractal method is proposed for predicting the SWCC based on mercury intrusion porosimeter (MIP) data. Only two characteristic parameters, namely the fractal dimension and air-entry value, are needed in the presented approach. Detailed procedures for determining the parameters are clearly elaborated. Due to the influence of sample size difference on the equivalent connected pore size, a sample scale effect coefficient is proposed to predict air-entry values. The concept of “critical pore size” is introduced to obtain the optimal fractal dimension, which can accurately reflect the fractal behaviour of SWCC samples. By comparisons between predicted and experimental SWCCs, the validation of the proposed method is verified. The comparisons reveal the good agreement between the proposed approach and laboratory experiments.

Keywords: pore size distribution; soil-water characteristic curve; sample scale effect; critical pore size; fractal porous media; air-entry value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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