The Volumetric Response of Remolded Expansive Soils due to the Simultaneous Application of Suction and Net Normal Stresses

Over the years, several methods to estimate volume change due to shrink-swell soils behavior have been proposed. A portion of those studies focused on the suction effect on volume change, using the suction compression index without taking into consideration the effect of the net normal stress. Others, on the other hand, considered both the net normal stress and the suction stress in an uncoupled fashion. This document presents a specialized laboratory research work aimed at estimating the coupling effect of net normal and suction stresses on the volume change of compacted specimens. A high plastic remolded soil with weighted plasticity index of about 50 was tested under drying conditions using a suction-controlled one-dimensional oedometer apparatus. The volumetric response of the tested soil to the simultaneous application of suction and net normal stress was obtained and compared to that using the sum of the uncoupled stress analysis.