Henan Unsaturated Soil and Special Soil Engineering Technology Research Center/ College of Architecture and Civil Engineering,Xinyang Normal University,Xinyang 464000,China
The effective stress parameter χ quantifies the efficiency with which suction was converted into effective stress; clarifying its variation pattern and reliable test methods remains one of the core challenges in unsaturated soil mechanics. Because χ was extremely difficult to measure directly, experimental data were scarce. Using a complete set of measured shear strength and suction data obtained for a compacted yellow-brown expansive soil from Jingmen, the dependencies were established among χ, net stress, suction, void ratio e, and gravimetric water content w. The results showed that: ① Moisture effect: At a given density, χ increased with w, indicating that the efficiency of converting suction into effective stress rises with increasing water content. ② Density effect: At a fixed moisture level, χ rised markedly as e decreased, demonstrating strong density dependence-higher density significantly enhances the suction-to-stress conversion efficiency. ③ Stress effect: Under constant e and w, χ increased with vertical net stress, implying that the external stress state also influences χ; the mechanism was analogous to the density effect because greater vertical stress induces specimen compaction. ④ Peak (“mountain”) effect: Unsaturated shear strength exhibited a “peak phenomenon” because χ increased whereas matric suction decreased with rising moisture. At low moisture, χ was small and suction was large; at high moisture, χ was large and suction was small. Consequently, suction-induced strength reached a maximum over the full transition from saturation to air-drying, producing a corresponding peak in unsaturated shear strength. ⑤ Research outlook: Because χ was closely linked to density, moisture and stress state, developing more rational quantitative descriptions of these interrelations warranted further investigation.
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