ABSTRACT
Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is an important curve in unsaturated soil mechanics. A SWCC can be obtained by curve fitting for a group of data points of suctions and water contents. The lower and the higher part of suction can be measured by the osmotic method and the filter paper method, respectively. Based on the results of a lot of laboratory tests of suctions and water contents of clay, four combinations of data points measured from the osmotic method and the filter paper method are employed to perform the curve fitting for SWCC. Results show that the statistics of SWCC parameters can be accurately obtained by curve fitting all data points of the osmotic method plus only one data point with high suction of the filter paper method. This finding can save a lot of laboratory effort for the measurement of SWCC of unsaturated soils.
