An Improved Volume Measurement for Determining Soil Water Retention Curves
Laloui, L
Ph.D. Student and Researcher, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne—EPFL, Soil Mechanics Laboratory, Station 18, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

Péron, H
Ph.D. Student and Researcher, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne—EPFL, Soil Mechanics Laboratory, Station 18, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

Hueckel, T
Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708-0287

(Received 15 December 2005; accepted 30 May 2006)

Abstract

The complete determination of soil water retention curves requires the sample volume to be measured in order to calculate its void ratio and degree of saturation. During drying in the pressure plate apparatus, cracks often appear in the sample altering its deformation and evaporation patterns. Consequently, this causes a significant scatter in the volume measurement when using the volume displacement method. This paper proposes a simple method to avoid cracking, by limiting friction and adhesion boundary effects, to allow for unrestrained shrinkage of the sample. Such modification of the technique decreases the measurement error by a factor of three.

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Author Péron H, Hueckel T, Laloui L Title An Improved Volume Measurement for Determining Soil Water Retention Curves Symposium , Committee on