The Porous-Solid Model

Abstract

Based on the analysis of the equilibrium of solid particles in a soil sample subject to a certain suction, an analytical expression for the value of Bishop´s parameter χ was established in the previous chapter. This parameter can be written as a function of the saturated fraction, the unsaturated fraction, and the degree of saturation of the unsaturated fraction of the soil. However, the determination of these three parameters cannot be made from current experimental procedures. Therefore, a porous-solid model simulating the structure of soils is proposed herein and used to determine these parameters. The data required to build up the porous-solid model are the void ratio of the sample and their grain and pore size distributions.

Keywords: Porous-solid model, Soil structure, Macropores, Micropores, Sites, Cavities, Bonds, Connectors, Network porous models, Random models, Distinct element method, Pore size distribution, Grain size distribution, Soil-water retention curves, Pore shrinkage.