Evaluation of prediction models applied to the soil-water characteristic curve of ideal materials

Abstract

The development of theoretical and semi-empirical models to study capillary mechanisms and predict the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) generally requires the idealization of pore space and pore water, considering simplifying hypotheses. The study of ideal materials comprised of particles with controlled shape and size allows the evaluation of such simplifying hypotheses and the subsequent generalization to actual soils. In this paper, four theoretical and semi-empirical models for the prediction of the SWCC are applied to the prediction of artificial materials comprised of spherical particles. Nineteen grain-size distribution curves, with varying coefficients of uniformity are considered. The dataset is comprised of materials previously published and additional tests carried out by the authors, under highly controlled conditions. The analyses allowed the evaluation of the effect of grain-size distribution curve and shape of the particles. The limitations and advantages of each prediction model was investigated, and a detailed comparison is presented, guiding future implementations of improved models.