ABSTRACT
Steady state flow and capillary rise from an identified water table are two common approaches to simulate unsaturated soils inside geotechnical centrifuge. However, they involve challenges with regards to introducing and monitoring unsaturated state, mapping the model results to prototype values, and accurate in-flight measurements. This paper presents planning, sensor calibration procedures, testing strategies, and preliminary results of a set of centrifuge experiments to evaluate the effect of g-level on soil-water retention; while both water content and suction were measured simultaneously throughout the tests. Considering the length scaling for capillary rise, negligible g-effect was observed on suction-water content relation. Steady state infiltration, however, resulted in suction-water content coordinates along the hysteresis curve depending on the sequence of hydraulic scenarios.
