LAUSR

A mechanical approach for unsaturated expansive soils considering double porosity has been developed based on the porous media theory. In this approach, the adsorbed and the capillary water, as well as the micropores and macropores, are two distinct phases. An interaggregate stress considered as the work-conjugate of the macrostructural strain increment has been defined. Both physicochemical and capillary effects of the pore water have been introduced at the macroscopic level. Other work-conjugate variables relevant for the constitutive modeling of double-porosity unsaturated media have also been identified, consisting of the modified suction as conjugate of the increment of the macrostructural degree of saturation and the microstructural effective stress as conjugate of the microstructural volumetric strain increment. A hydromechanical model for unsaturated expansive clays taking into account the interaction between the micro- and the macrostructures in expansive clays can thus be built. Based on the bou...