Analysing the form of the confined uniaxial compression curve of various soils

TL;DR

This study investigates the different forms of uniaxial compression curves in soils, highlighting how clay content and water influence the occurrence of S-shaped curves and their implications for soil compaction analysis.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the conditions under which S-shaped compression curves occur in soils, expanding understanding of soil behavior during compaction.

Findings

S-shaped curves are more frequent with higher clay and water content.

Remoulded soils exhibit S-shaped curves more often than undisturbed soils.

Differences in pore water and air-filled pore compression explain the curve shapes.

Abstract

The soil compaction by vehicles is a major factor responsible for physical degradation of cultivated soils. Uniaxial confined compression tests are usually performed to characterise the compaction properties of soil. Two main forms of compression curve have been observed: (i) the bi-linear curve having an elastic rebound curve at low stresses and a linear virgin compression curve at higher stresses; (ii) the S-shaped curve having deviation of the virgin compression curve at high stresses. In the present work, uniaxial confined compression tests were performed on four soils having various textures and different plasticity. Tests were performed on undisturbed and remould samples, at various initial dry bulk densities and water contents. The S-shaped compression curves were observed more frequently when the clay content and/or the initial water content were high. In addition, the S-shaped curves were observed more frequently on remould soils than on undisturbed soils. The difference between the compression of air-filled pores and that of meso-pores storing water subjected to high capillary forces could explain the observed S-shaped curves.