This book provides a sound basis in the challenging area of the mechanics of unsaturated geomaterials. The objective is to supply the reader with an exhaustive overview starting from the basics and covering the most recent theories and applications (i.e. natural disasters, nuclear waste disposal, oil and agriculture productions). The presentation of the fundamental concepts is based on an interdisciplinary approach, in the areas of soil, rock and cement-based material mechanics.
Part 1. Fundamental Concepts
1. Basic Concepts in the Mechanics and Hydraulics of Unsaturated Geomaterials, Alessandro Tarantino.
2. Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils, Lyesse Laloui, Mathieu Nuth and Bertrand François.
3. Desiccation Cracking of Soils, Hervé Peron, Lyesse Laloui, Liang-Bo Hu and Tomasz Hueckel.
Part 2. Experimental Characterization
4. Experimental Techniques for Unsaturated Geomaterials, Pierre Delage.
5. New Experimental Tools for the Characterization of Highly Overconsolidated Clayey Materials in Unsaturated Conditions, Simon Salager, Alessio Ferrari and Lyesse Laloui.
6. Field Measurement of Suction, Water Content and Water Permeability, Alessandro Tarantino.
Part 3. Theoritical Developments
7. Hydromechanical Coupling Theory in Unsaturated Geomaterials and Its Numerical Integration, Robert Charlier, Jean-Pol Radu, Pierre Gerard and Frédéric Collin.
8. Conservation Laws for Coupled Hydro-Mechanical Processes in Unsaturated Porous Media: Theory and Implementation, Ronaldo I. Borja and Joshua A. White.
9. Strain Localization Modeling in Coupled Transient Phenomena, Frédéric Collin, Yannick Sieffert and René Chambon.
Part 4. Engineering Applications
10. Modeling Landslides in Partially Saturated Slopes Subjected to Rainfall Infiltration, John Eichenberger, Mathieu Nuth and Lyesse Laloui.
11. Thermally Induced Moisture Transport and Pore Pressure Generation in Nearly Saturated Geomaterials, Antony P.S. Selvadurai.
12. Mechanics of Unsaturated Geomaterials Applied to Nuclear Waste Storage, Antonio Gens.
13. Soil–Pipeline Interaction in Unsaturated Soils, Dilan Robert and Kenichi Soga.
14. Coefficient B, Consolidation, and Swelling in Fine Soils Near Saturation in Engineering Practice, Luc Boutonnier.
15. Geomechanical Analysis of River Embankments, Cristina Jommi and Gabriele Della Vecchia.
Professor Lyesse Laloui is Director of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland and Adjunct Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Duke University, Durham, USA.