Hydromechanical behaviour of expansive compacted clay during wetting

A finite difference scheme was used to solve the equation of water flow in unsaturated soil. Two cases were considered: no-volume change and free swelling. In the case of no-volume change, we assumed that only the water potential, i.e. the suction contribution is responsible for the flow. A good agreement was found between numerical and experimental results in the case of the hydration of a highly compacted FoCa7 clay sample in an odometer cell with no-volume change. In the case of free swelling, the swelling potential was introduced in addition to the water potential, using the diffuse double layer model. In these conditions, the numerical results appeared also in good agreement with experimental results on the same clay.