A void ratio - water content - net stress model for environmentally stabilized expansive soils

A new mathematical model is presented that describes the shrinkage curve of environmentally stabilized soils. Environmentally stabilized soils are defined as those that have undergone a sufficient number of wet-dry cycles to reach a stable soil structure. The model is applicable for fitting to soils that exhibit all typical zones of soil shrinkage behaviour and to those soils that do not exhibit structural and (or) residual shrinkage behaviour. The fitting parameters in this model are directly related to features of the shrinkage curve and have direct relevance to soil mechanics theory and practice. The model is applied to data from 20 different datasets reported in literature with excellent fitting achieved. This model is extended to incorporate the effect of net stress, creating a surface describing soil volumetric behaviour in response to changes in water content and net stress.