Prediction of Soil–Water Retention Curves of Road Base Aggregate with Various Clay Fine Contents

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Abstract
The invasion of clay fines can change the water retention properties of base layers significantly. There is no soil–water retention curve prediction equation that is capable of considering the effects of fines. In this study, the soil–water retention curves (SWRC) of road base aggregate with different fine contents (FC) were measured. The variations in inter-aggregate pores (formed by coarse grains) and intra-aggregate pores (formed by fines) with FC were deduced from the SWRC at different FCs. It was found that the inclusion of fines shifted and scaled the inter-aggregate pore distribution curves and scaled the intra-aggregate pore distribution curves. Based on this finding, a prediction equation for SWRC with consideration of the effects of FC was proposed. The feasibility of this equation was verified by comparing the predicted and measured results. The proposed model can be used to predict the SWRC of soil with different FCs.
Funding Information
  • National Science Foundation for outstanding scholar in Zhejiang Province (No.LR21E08004)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51978611, No.51878513)
  • Chinese Scholarship Council (No. 202006320250)

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