Response of intermediate unsaturated soils under suction-controlled plane strain conditions: A preliminary investigation

The majority of biaxial devices developed to date, however, allow for soil testing mostly under dried or fully saturated conditions (Wood 1958, Vardoulakis and Goldscheider 1981, Vardoulakis and Graf 1985, Dresher et al. 1990, Alshibli et al. 2004). Only until very recently, limited attempts have been reported to test unsaturated soils under plane strain shearing and controlled suction conditions (Schanz and Alabdullah 2007, Nikraz and Fauziaha 2008). These results, however, are far from conclusive, as they are mostly limited to suction values of 20 kPa, while the biaxial devices used offer ample room for refinement and development.