Correlation between Small-Strain Shear Modulus and Suction Stress in Capillary Regime under Zero Total Stress Conditions

The small-strain shear modulus G0 is a fundamental property governing shear wave propagation in soil. It depends on fabric of soil particles, soil water content, and stress state. The dependency of G0 on stress and water content was assessed by using the suction stress-based effective stress principle. Here the variation of G0 with water content was compared with soil-water retention (SWR) behavior and suction stress behavior for 12 soils under zero total stress conditions. A recently established SWR model enables the distinction of capillary and adsorption regimes for better interpretation of the correlation between G0 and suction stress. It is demonstrated experimentally that the variations of both G0 and suction stress follow the same pattern but differ by a dimensionless scalar. Further correlation of the scalar with SWR provides good predictions of suction stress for different soils in the capillary regime. The established correlations among SWR, suction stress, and G0 further confirm the validity of the suction stress-based effective stress principle.