Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

A suction-saturation control technique based on flow pump system was developed to investigate hydraulic properties in unsaturated soils. The flow pump system is designed based on the principle of the axis-translation technique and triaxial equipment, and gives the suction-time and suction-saturation curves, the primary relationship needed for interpreting the response of unsaturated soils and link between theory and the material properties in unsaturated soil mechanics. Using the suction-saturation control technique, suction-time relationship and soil-water retention curve (SWRC) during hydraulic hysteresis were investigated with different net confining pressures and porosities. Three types of soils-two sands and a silt were used in this paper. This paper showed the effect of the hysteresis on the SWRC due to different net confining pressures and porosities. This means that a careful decision must be made as to which condition is to be modeled, since the delicate difference of the conditions in physical modeling can cause the different experimental output.