The microporosity structure of soil provides important information in understanding the shear strength, compressibility, water-retention ability, and hydraulic conductivity of soils. It is a soil characteristic that depends on sample preparation method and wetting–drying history. A comprehensive study of the microporosity structure of a lean clay with sand was conducted in this research to investigate variations of the microporosity structure during compaction, saturation, and drying processes. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the microporosity structure of soil sample surfaces. Mercury intrusion porosimetry was used to measure the microporosity structure quantitatively by showing the relationship between cumulative pore volumes and pore radius. The experimental results show that a dual-porosity structure (i.e., interaggregate pores and intra-aggregate pores) forms during the compaction process. The interaggregate pores are compressible and the associated volume is closely related to the final void ratio of the compacted sample. Changes to interaggregate pores is dominant during compaction, but changes to intra-aggregate pores is dominant during saturation and drying. Based on the experimental results, a dual-porosity structure model was developed by relating the pore-size distribution to the void ratio. Consequently, the pore-size distribution at any void ratio can be predicted.

To date the microporosity structures of coarse soils with various coarse/fines contents are still not fully understood. In this study, the pore-size distributions (PSDs) of five types of soil varying from gravel to clay were characterized using mercury intrusion porosimetry. The soil with a coarse content below 70% (i.e., fines content above 30%) is found to have a fines-controlled microstructure, which is sensitive to water content changes. Such soil forms a dual-porosity structure due to compaction, in which both intraaggregate pores and interaggregate pores are dominant. After saturation, the dual-porosity structure evolves into a unimodal porosity structure dominated by the intraaggregate pores. During drying, such soil exhibits a significant reduction of total volume. The soil with a coarse content above 70% instead has a coarse-controlled microstructure, which is stable upon water content changes. Such soil maintains dual-porosity structures no matter if the soil is compacted, saturated, or dried. As an example of application, the measured PSDs are used to predict the soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) for the test soils and the predictions are consistent with the SWCCs measured in the laboratory.

Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is the primary soil parameter required when performing seepage analyses for unsaturated–saturated soil systems. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is also one of the most difficult parameters to measure because of the time involved and the limited suction measurement range (e.g., 0∼1500 kPa in a test using the steady-state method). In this study, a new wetting front advancing method was developed for measuring unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. The wetting front advancing method simulates and monitors a soil wetting process through a large-scale soil column. A new interpretative procedure was developed to calculate the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity based on the monitored water content, suction, and wetting front advancing velocity. The proposed technique is used to measure the unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of five soils, which vary from gravel to clay. The results indicate that the proposed technique is time-saving (i.e., requires several days for a complete test) and is applicable over wide ranges of suctions and unsaturated hydraulic conductivities. The measured unsaturated hydraulic conductivity using the wetting front advancing method is similar to that obtained using the instantaneous profile method, with the latter covering narrower ranges of soil suction and hydraulic conductivity.

Cracks are widely present in natural and engineered soils. As water infiltration into a cracked soil often starts from unsaturated conditions, the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and permeability function for the cracked soil are required when conducting seepage analysis. This paper presents a method to predict the SWCC and permeability function for cracked soil considering crack volume changes during drying–wetting processes. The cracked soil is viewed as an overlapping continuum of a crack network system and a soil matrix system. The pore-size distributions for the two pore systems at a particular state can be determined and used to estimate the SWCCs and permeability functions. The estimated SWCCs and permeability functions for the two pore systems can be combined to give the SWCC and the permeability function for the cracked soil at that state. Then, the SWCC and permeability function for the cracked soil at different states along a crack development path can be obtained and combined to give the SWCC or permeability function for the cracked soil considering crack volume changes. Examples are presented to illustrate the prediction of the SWCCs and permeability functions for a cracked soil along five crack development paths.