Investigation of Moisture Content-Induced Variations in Unbound Aggregates' Resilient Modulous Through Suction Stress Concept

The influence of moisture content on unbound aggregates' resilient modulus has been well recognized, but accurate prediction of this influence remains a challenge. With prediction models incorporating matric suction, great improvement has been achieved in understanding and modeling moisture-dependent resilient modulus. Nevertheless, matric suction, in the sense of soil water tension, cannot be measured directly. The actual measured matric suction in geotechnical literature is water potential, which leads to a conceptual inconsistency. In addition, difficulties associated with determining the effective stress parameter χ may limit the general applicability of matric suction-based prediction models in practice. On the basis of suction stress concept, which is lumped macroscopic effect of various interparticle physicochemical forces, a prediction model for resilient modulus is proposed in this paper. The feasibility of such a model has been confirmed and illustrated by laboratory testing results.