Based on the study of the equilibrium of the particles of a soil sample
subject to certain suction, in the previous chapter it was possible to establish an
analytical expression for the value of Bishop´s parameter χ. This parameter can be
written as function of the saturated fraction, the unsaturated fraction and the degree of
saturation of the unsaturated fraction of the soil. However, the determination of these
three parameters cannot be made from current experimental procedures. Therefore, a
porous-solid model simulating the structure of the soil is proposed herein and used to
determine these parameters. The data required to build the porous-solid model are the
void ratio and the grain and pore size distributions.
Keywords: Bonds, Cavities, Distinct element method, Grain size distribution,
Macropores, Mesopores, Micropores, Network porous models, Pore shrinkage,
Pore size distribution, Porous-solid model, Random models, Sites, Soil structure,
Soil-water retention curves.
