An Effective Stress Equation for Unsaturated Granular Media in Pendular Regime

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atmire.migration.oldid2024
dc.contributor.advisorWan, Richard
dc.contributor.authorKhosravani, Sarah
dc.date.accessioned2014-04-28T22:47:21Z
dc.date.available2014-06-16T07:00:35Z
dc.date.issued2014-04-28
dc.date.submitted2014en
dc.description.abstractThe mechanical behaviour of a wet granular material is investigated through a micromechanical analysis of force transport between interacting particles with a given packing and distribution of capillary liquid bridges. A single effective stress tensor, characterizing the tensorial contribution of the matric suction and encapsulating evolving liquid bridges, packing, interfaces, and water saturation, is derived micromechanically. The physical significance of the effective stress parameter (χ) as originally introduced in Bishop’s equation is examined and it turns out that Bishop’s equation is incomplete. More interestingly, an additional parameter that accounts for surface tension forces arising from the so-called contractile skin emerges in the newly proposed effective stress equation. Therefore, a so-called capillary stress is introduced which is shown to have two contributions: one emanating from suction between particles due to air-water pressure difference, and the second arising from surface tension forces along the contours between particles and water menisci. It turns out that the capillary stress is anisotropic in nature as dictated by the spatial distribution of water menisci, particle packing and degree of saturation, and thus engenders a meniscus based shear strength that increases with the anisotropy of the particle packing and the degree of saturation. The newly proposed effective stress equation is analyzed with respect to packing, liquid bridge distribution and strength issues. Finally, discrete element modelling is used to verify the micromechanical aspects of the proposed effective stress equation.en_US
dc.identifier.citationKhosravani, S. (2014). An Effective Stress Equation for Unsaturated Granular Media in Pendular Regime (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24849en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/24849
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11023/1443
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectEngineering--Civil
dc.subjectEngineering--Mechanical
dc.subjectGeotechnology
dc.subject.classificationUnsaturateden_US
dc.subject.classificationPendular Regimeen_US
dc.subject.classificationMicromechanicsen_US
dc.titleAn Effective Stress Equation for Unsaturated Granular Media in Pendular Regime
dc.typemaster thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (MSc)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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