Soil structure as an indicator of soil functions: A review

With the advent of modern microstructural testing techniques and microstructure based constitutive models the microstructural characterisation of soils is gaining prominence. This paper reviews the history of microstructure investigation in unsaturated soils and discusses the engineering significance of this research to date. After a brief overview of the main microstructural techniques, the paper focuses on the evaluation of the current state of use and the development of two widely used techniques to study the microstructure of partially saturated soils, namely mercury intrusion porosimetry and the environmental scanning electron microscopy. The details of these techniques, their advantages and limitations, are first covered, followed by the presentation of selected test results. These results highlight the use of these techniques for understanding different hydro-mechanical behavioural features observed at macroscopic scale. Specifically, the paper shows the use of these techniques to explore the fundamental properties of water retention characteristics, water permeability, and micro and macrostructural interactions along different hydro-mechanical paths.

Microstructure Investigation in Unsaturated Soils: A Review with Special Attention to Contribution of Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy

Differential Thermal Analysis

Microstructure and geotechnical properties of lime-treated expansive clayey soil

This paper presents details of a study that deals with determination of engineering properties, identification of phases of major hydration products, and microstructural characteristics of a zinc-c...

Engineering properties and microstructural characteristics of cement-stabilized zinc-contaminated kaolin

Microstructure and hydraulic conductivity of a compacted lime-treated soil

A study was undertaken on a compacted silt to determine fabric modifications induced by suction and/or stress variations. The link between fabric and hydromechanical behaviour was also investigated. A suction‐controlled oedometer, using air overpressure, was developed for this purpose and mercury intrusion porosimetry was employed to determine sample fabric. The initial samples fabric was made of macro and micropores. It was shown that suction increase produced a strong decrease in the macroporosity associated with an increase in microporosity. However, some macropores were not significantly affected by the suction increase; this phenomenon might be related to the initial fabric of the samples. Second, it appears that loading under saturated conditions also produces strong fabric modification: the higher the applied stress, the lower the macroporosity. Soil fabric depends on the maximum stress experienced by the soil. Finally, some tests have shown the influence of suction, as well as the role of the degree of saturation, on the deformation process and the mechanical behaviour. The test results show that in the case of unsaturated mechanical loading, all macropores are not destroyed by the mechanical loading

/pdf/fabric-evolution-during-hydromechanical-loading-of-a-3ow8los5ak.pdf

Fabric evolution during hydromechanical loading of a compacted silt

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01768451/document

Olivier Cuisinier

Papers

Microstructure and hydraulic conductivity of a compacted lime-treated soil

Fabric evolution during hydromechanical loading of a compacted silt

Hydromechanical behaviour of a compacted swelling soil over a wide suction range

Multi-scale analysis of the swelling and shrinkage of a lime-treated expansive clayey soil

Quantification of the effects of nitrates, phosphates and chlorides on soil stabilization with lime and cement