Shrinkage-based method for estimating suction stress characteristic curve

Determination of suction stress characteristic curve is essential for understanding the behavior of unsaturated soils. Existing methods suffer from several shortcomings such as inability to capture suction stress at low water contents, non-uniform distribution of suction stress, and reliance on multiple fitting parameters that are difficult to calibrate. A shrinkage-based method is developed to estimate the suction stress characteristic curve from the soil shrinkage curve. • This paper develops a relationship between volumetric strain and suction stress • This paper describes the inclusion of capillarity and absorption in the above relationship • This paper validates the shrinkage-based method through comparison with established models