Determinação da curva característica de um horizonte do perfil geotécnico da formação Guabirotuba

Abstract

Although it is of extreme importance for the Soil Mechanics, soil analysis in its unsaturated state is still recent and is under development. This work aims a better understanding of unsaturated soils and the relationship between their degree of saturation and suction, an important part in the state of soil stresses and significant in the stability of earthworks. The study of this relationship is performed by means of the suction stress characteristic curve (SSCC), which in this work is obtained experimentally through the SWC-150 GCTS’s equipment. After obtaining the experimental soil-water characteristic curve, it is necessary to equate this curve, so that it is possible to be applied. The classification and understanding of the soil structure is determinant in obtaining the best mathematical fit for the curve obtained experimentally. The soil studied in this work, which was collected from the Guabirotuba Formation in Curitiba, is a well graded inorganic silt with high compressibility. The equation that presented the best fit for the characteristic curve was van Genutchen (1980), with coefficient of determination equal to 0.99.