Soil suction — what it is and how to successfully measure it

Authors: Ridley, AM

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1508_0.2_Ridley

Cite As:
Ridley, AM 2015, 'Soil suction — what it is and how to successfully measure it', in PM Dight (ed.), FMGM 2015: Proceedings of the Ninth Symposium on Field Measurements in Geomechanics, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 27-46, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1508_0.2_Ridley

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Abstract:
Soil suction (or negative porewater pressure) is important to the development of strength and changes of volume in soils that lie above the natural water table. The presence of soil suction is particularly important in the study of slopes where, should the porewater pressure increase, stability brought about by suctioninduced increases of strength can be compromised. Over the last 20 years, methods for measuring soil suctions in laboratories and on sites have been developed. These have made it possible to make reliable measurements and have been be used to further our understanding of the role that suctions play in slope stability. This paper presents the background to the presence of soil suctions in ground, advances made in instrumentation for measuring soil suctions and field measurements made by the author.

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