An analytical model to predict water retention curves for granular materials using the grain-size distribution curve

Abstract The present work aims to propose a new analytical model intended to predict the water retention curves for granular materials based on data from tensiometric tests. Different analytical models have been used for the evaluation of soil water retention curves so far. It should be noted that the proposed model considers only one criterion in the selection of soils. This criterion is the physical property of particle distribution curve that can be used to determine the values of D50 and CU. In this study, the pore-access size distribution is investigated considering the effect of the coefficient of uniformity of sandy soils that were prepared with different density indexes (0.5, 0.7, and 0.9). Moreover, the proposed model equation is based on the physical properties of soil. This equation made it possible to describe the water retention curve and to estimate the pore-access size distribution without performing any experimental tests. The findings allowed asserting that the uniformity of the particle size curves corresponds to a good uniformity of the pore-access size distribution. In addition, it was revealed that the suction increased as the density index went up, which matches well with the experimental data. Moreover, it may clearly be noted that the distinctive retention properties of unsaturated soils can be observed on the abovementioned curves. Further, it was found that the ratio of the grain size over the pore-access size increased as the uniformity coefficient augmented.