Consolidation behavior of an unsaturated silty soil during drying and wetting

In this work, the effect of hysteresis phenomenon on the consolidation behavior of an unsaturated silty soil was investigated through a program of experimental tests. Compacted samples were prepared by the slurry method and experimental tests were carried out in a double-walled triaxial cell. Consolidation tests were conducted by the ramping method at suctions of 0, 100, 200, 250 and 300 kPa on drying and wetting paths of the soil water characteristic curve. The results show that the paths of specific water volume and specific volume are not consistent during stabilization in either condition (drying or wetting). In addition, the yield stress for the wetting path is higher than that for drying. The trend of variations of the specific water volume during loading is similar to the consolidation curves for different suction. For both conditions of drying and wetting, the slope and intercept of the virgin line due to variations of specific volume and specific water volume are a function of suction. While their values decrease with increasing suction, these values are higher for the dry path than wetting.