Introduction

The hydro-mechanical response of an unsaturated soil is more complex than a saturated soil because of the presence of air and water in the pore space. The SIGMA/W consolidation formulation gives consideration to the degree of saturation in the unsaturated zone for calculating stress-water coupling term. As such, the pore-water pressure due to loading depends on the volumetric water content function for an unsaturated soil.

This examples demonstrates the pore-water pressure response of an unsaturated soil subjected to loading and unloading at the ground surface using a consolidation analysis.

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