Water Retention Characteristics of Swelling Clays

Initial state of soil (viz., slurried, intact or compacted state) influences the soil water retention characteristics (SWRC), which in turn affects the unsaturated soil behaviour. Few studies have investigated the effect of initial state of soil on their SWRC, and such studies are rare for swelling clays. In this context, drying- and wetting- path SWRCs have been developed, in the present study, for intact and reconstituted specimens of swelling clays, by employing Dewpoint Potentiometer (WP4C (R)) and Environmental Chamber in tandem. The wetting-path SWRC has also been developed by controlled water sprinkling method. From the study, influence of initial water content has been observed to be higher on drying-path SWRCs as compared to wetting-path SWRCs of the clays. Further, the drying-path SWRCs for intact and reconstituted specimens converge beyond certain stage of drying. The study suggests the utilisation of reconstituted specimens for studying behaviour of intact clays in relatively dry state.