KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (2017) 21(1):150-159 Geotechnical Engineering

Copyright ⓒ2017 Korean Society of Civil Engineers

DOI 10.1007/s12205-016-0199-9 pISSN 1226-7988, eISSN 1976-3808
www.springer.com/12205
TECHNICAL NOTE

A Slurry Consolidation Method for Reconstitution of Triaxial Specimens

Wenhua Liu*, Xiaowei Tang**, and Qing Yang***
Received March 10, 2015/Revised July 6, 2015/Accepted September 24, 2015/Published Online March 28, 2016

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Abstract

In this paper, a modified slurry consolidation approach to reconstitute triaxial specimens was developed within an experimental
program to study the influence of drying-wetting on the cyclic behaviors of unsaturated soils. The uniformity of the reconstituted
specimens was assessed by measuring the dry density, water content, grain size distribution and the soil water characteristic curve
throughout the specimens. Additionally, the static and cyclic triaxial tests were performed to further verify the ability of this new
slurry consolidation method for preparing identical specimens. All the test results report very small differences between specimens.
The slurry consolidation approach presented herein can produce specimens with a high initial degree of saturation of about 96%,
expediting the subsequent saturation process. Finally, the cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on the unsaturated soils to investigate
the influence of drying-wetting on the cyclic behaviors of unsaturated soils. Drying-wetting has an irreversible influence on the cyclic
behaviors of unsaturated soils. The cyclic strength is increased after drying-wetting.
Keywords: slurry consolidation, uniformity, soil water characteristic curve, triaxial tests, drying-wetting
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1. Introduction It is very difficult to isolate the effect of drying-wetting history in

In response to varying climatic conditions, soils near the ground
surface are constantly subjected to drying-wetting, resulting in the
change of hydro-mechanical behaviors (Sarmah et al., 1996;
Chen and Ng, 2013). Soils behave differently under the drying
and wetting paths, which is attributed to hysteresis and different
dilation contributions on the drying path and wetting path (Tse
and Ng, 2008). Numerous research works have highlighted the
impact of drying-wetting on the static mechanical behaviors of
unsaturated soils (Han et al., 1995; Alonso et al., 1999; Alonso et
al., 2005; Sivakumar et al., 2006; Tripathy and Subba Rao, 2009;
Airò Farulla et al., 2010; Goh et al., 2010). However, the influence
of drying-wetting on the cyclic mechanical behaviors of soils has
been rarely studied. Further experimental investigations are necessary
regarding the influence of drying-wetting cycles on the cyclic
mechanical behaviors of soils. One of the important aspects is
how to prepare identical specimens for laboratory testing.
Although satisfactory techniques to obtain high-quality specimens
from the field for laboratory testing have been developed over
the years, sampling of representative and uniform soil specimens
for quantitative evaluation of soil mechanical behaviors is still a
difficult task due to the complexity of the condition in situ.
Moreover, the drying-wetting history in situ is not easy to achieve.
situ from the test results when studying the influence of drying-
wetting cycle on the soil mechanical behaviors. Consequently,
the laboratory tests mentioned above were almost exclusively
performed on reconstituted specimens (Han et al., 1995; Rajaram
and Erbach, 1997; Nishimura and Fredlund, 2002; Gallage and
Uchimura, 2006; Tse and Ng, 2008; Goh et al., 2010).
Previous studies have indicated that soil structure reaches an
equilibrium state after about three to five drying-wetting cycles
(AI-Homoud et al., 1995; Zhang et al., 2006). It takes a long
time (even several months) to perform the repeated drying-
wetting test. Thus, it is necessary to shorten the drying-wetting
duration when investigating the influence of repeated drying-wetting
on the mechanical behaviors of unsaturated soils. Furthermore, a
long time (varying from weeks to even months) is required to
equilibrate a specimen under an applied suction when the suction
control method is used in the unsaturated tests. This disadvantage
of testing unsaturated soils can be eliminated by pre-equilibrating the
specimens to a desired suction prior to placement in the triaxial
apparatus (Houston et al., 2008). Since the time to consolidate
and shear the specimen in the triaxial testing chamber is much
shorter than that required for the repeated drying-wetting and pre-
equalization, it becomes impossible that tests are carried out
through the drying-wetting and pre-equalization procedure one

*Ph.D. Student, State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China; Lecturer, School of
Environment and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China (E-mail: wenhualiudlut@163.com)
**Associate Professor, State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China (E-mail:
tangxw@dlut.edu.cn)
***Professor, State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China (Corresponding Author, E-mail:
qyang@dlut.edu.cn)

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 A Slurry Consolidation Method for Reconstitution of Triaxial Specimens
specimen by one specimen. A test strategy, in which multiple
specimens are processed through drying-wetting and pre-
equalization processes at the same time, should be taken into
account to ensure the continuity of the subsequent triaxial test
and thus reduce the whole test duration.
Two important issues are required to be addressed for studying
the influence of drying-wetting on the mechanical behaviors of
unsaturated soils. Firstly, in order to investigate the influence of
matric suction and drying-wetting independently, all the laboratory
tests should be started using the specimens under the same initial
conditions (homogeneous and saturated). Secondly, several
homogeneous specimens should be processed through repeated
drying-wetting at the same time to shorten the test duration. The
key objective of specimen reconstitution is to ensure the consistency
in their basic properties and to get multiple specimens in a single
preparation procedure. By doing so, multiple specimens can be
simultaneously performed drying-wetting and the subsequent
matric suction pre-equalization procedure.
The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach of
slurry consolidation to prepare silt clay triaxial specimens. The
uniformity of the reconstituted specimens has been verified by
measuring the water content, grain size distribution and soil
water characteristic curve throughout the specimens. And several
specimens have been randomly selected for static and cyclic
triaxial tests. Finally, cyclic triaxial tests of unsaturated soils have
been conducted to get a deep understanding of the influence of
drying-wetting on the cyclic mechanical behaviors of unsaturated
soils based on the specimens prepared using the new slurry
consolidation method proposed in this paper.
2. Research Background
A variety of specimen preparation techniques have been developed
to reconstitute soil specimens in the laboratory. These methods
include moist tamping, water pluviation, air pluviation, slurry
deposition, and slurry consolidation. Moist tamping method
results in the lower portion of the specimen becoming denser
than the desired density (Mulilis et al., 1977; Frost and Park,
2003), although the method is capable of controlling the global
density easily, especially for the loose specimens. The water
pluviation and air pluviation are usually used to simulate the
natural deposition process of soils through water and windblown
Aeolian deposits (Kuerbis and Vaid, 1988), while the soil particles
are easily segregated for both of the two methods.
Slurry deposition methods have been traditionally developed
to allow reconstitution of homogeneous specimens of well-
graded sands and/or sands with fines whose fabric is representative
of alluvial, marine or underwater deposition. Kuerbis and Vaid
(1988) have proposed a slurry deposition method to prepare sand
specimens for the purpose of simulating the soil fabric of fill
deposit formed under water. The specimens were reasonably
homogeneous and reproducible. Carraro and Prezzi (2007) have
modified the slurry deposition method to prepare triaxial
specimens of sand containing fines. Khalili and Wijewickreme
Vol. 21, No. 1 / January 2017
(2008) have proposed a new slurry displacement method to
remodel cylindrical specimens of mixtures of waste rock and
tailings. They have overcome the difficulties in preparation of
uniform highly gap-graded specimens.
Slurry consolidation methods have been widely used to
reconstitute predominantly fine - grained soil specimens. Hyde
and Ward (1985) have used the slurry consolidation method to
prepare specimens for studying the pore pressure and stability
model of silt clay under repeated loading. Yasuhara et al. (2003)
have investigated the postcyclic degradation characteristics of
strength and stiffness using the slurry consolidation low plasticity
silt specimens. Jung et al. (2012) have compared the stress-strain
responses of natural compressible Chicago glacial clay with that
of the specimens prepared using the slurry consolidation method.
However, the uniformity of the specimens was not reported in
the above three literatures. Wang et al. (2011) have developed a
new slurry consolidation approach for low-plasticity silt, and the
uniformity of the specimens was assessed by measuring the
water content and grain size distribution throughout the specimens.
Le et al. (2015) have prepared specimens from slurry in the
Rowe cell to study the impact of the thickness of the soil deposit
on the long term settlement pattern as well as the response of the
excess pore water pressure of soft clay. And they concluded that
the sample thickness has a significant influence on the long term
settlement pattern and excess pore water pressure dissipation
period.
As can be seen from the published literatures, the slurry con-
solidation method is a preferred technique to reconstitute slit or
clay specimens. However, most of the methods proposed in the
published literatures can only prepare one or minority specimens
in a single preparation, which is not suitable for our subsequent
testing process. This paper presents a new approach of slurry
consolidation to prepare silt clay specimens for triaxial testing
using a large-scale consolidometer. The shortcoming mentioned
above can indeed be overcome.
3. Reconstitution Program
3.1 Material
The testing material used in this research was obtained from
Dalian, China. The basic properties were as follows: specific
gravity Gs = 2.55, liquid limit ωL = 23.3%, plastic limit ωp =
12.3%, plasticity index Ip = 11.0. The soils were classified as CL
according to the Unified Soil Classification System, ASTM D
2487-10 (2010). The main minerals were identified as quartz,
feldspar, mica and illite through X-ray diffractometry.
3.2 Specimen Reconstitution Procedures
The specimens were reconstituted using a slurry consolidation
approach in a large-scale consolidometer with a dimension of
350 × 280 × 250 mm. The silt clay slurry was consolidated under
the incremental load until the predetermined dry density was
achieved. Individual triaxial specimens were obtained using a
thin-walled stainless soil sampler. The procedure to prepare
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 Wenhua Liu, Xiaowei Tang, and Qing Yang
specimens was presented as follows.
3.2.1 Preparation of Slurry
The silt clay was air dried and the large soil aggregates were
crushed using a wooden stick, and then sifted using a standard
0.5 mm sieve to remove the coarse sand and gravel particles in
order to prevent segregation during sedimentation. The dry silt
clay was mixed with de-aired water, resulting in a water content
of 40%. The slurry was then placed in a tightly sealed container
for about 24 hours to ensure complete absorption of water
throughout the soils and to prevent water from evaporating. After
that, the slurry was mixed thoroughly for about 20 min in a vacuum
mixer to avoid air entrapment during the mixing process.
3.2.2 Pouring Slurry into the Consolidometer
Before pouring slurry into the consolidometer, an oil-based
lubricant was applied to the consolidometer walls to reduce the
friction between the wall and slurry as described by Jung et al.
(2012). Filter paper discs were then placed over the drainage
bases to prevent them from being jammed with clay particles. In
this study, the soil block with a thickness of 120 mm was used.
This thickness was used as a tradeoff between ensuring the
primary consolidation completed in two days and a sufficient
thickness to minimize the end effect during consolidation (the
part about 20 mm at the end of the specimen should be removed
when obtaining the triaxial specimens (see detail in the section
“Sampling”)). According to the desired dry density ρd = 1.65
Mg/m3 and the target height of the soil block, slurry of a mass of
27.2 kg (0.35 × 0.28 × 0.12 × 1.65 Mg/m3 × 140% = 27.2 kg)
was poured into the large-scale consolidometer (Fig. 1(a)). The
slurry was poured into the consolidometer slowly in order to
prevent air from entering the slurry. Finally, the slurry in the
consolidometer was leveled off, and the filter paper, top drainage
platen and loading platen were inserted into the consolidometer
sequentially.
3.2.3 Consolidation of Slurry
The slurry was left to consolidate under the weight of the top
Fig. 1. Experimental Setup for Reconstituted Specimens: (a) Consolidometer, (b) Thin-walled Stainless Soil Sampler
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drainage platen and loading platen (about 0.93 kPa) overnight to
prevent the slurry from squeezing out under the imposed load.
The slurry was then loaded in several stages until the target soil
block height (120 mm) was achieved. The primary consolidation
was assumed to have been achieved when the consolidation
deformation was less than 0.05 mm in 24 hours. The loading
time for each load increment was set to be 48 hours in order to
ensure the completion of the primary consolidation under a load
increment. The final desired load was determined based on
several trials to ensure that the soil block reached the target
height (120 mm). The consolidation deformation was monitored
using two dial gauges installed on the consolidometer walls. Top
and bottom drainage was allowed to facilitate the consolidation
of slurry. A total 20 days were taken for the preparation of the
reconstituted block.
3.2.4 Sampling
Individual triaxial specimens were obtained using a thin-walled
stainless sampler (Fig. 1(b)). The method used to prepare triaxial
specimens can be divided into the following steps:
1. To avoid compression of the specimen during inserting, the
sealing bolt should be removed to allow the air to escape out
of the sampler (Fig. 2(a)). The piston was pulled upward to
ensure its distance to the bottom of the thin-walled stainless
sampler greater than the height of the soil block (120 mm).
To prevent specimen from adhering to the sampler and
avoid disturbance, the sampler was inserted into the soil
block continuously and rapidly (about 50 mm/s) until it
reached the bottom of the block.
2. The sealing bolt was then attached to the sampler and
screwed. The sampler was pulled out slowly at a constant
speed. The specimen was separated and pulled out from the
block together with the sampler due to the friction and suc-
tion (Fig. 2(b)).
3. The specimen was extruded from the sampler carefully. A
piece of the three-way split mould with a diameter of 39.1
mm and a height of 80 mm was carefully attached to the
specimen’s surface to avoid bending deformation of the
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 A Slurry Consolidation Method for Reconstitution of Triaxial Specimens

Fig. 2. Main Processes to Obtain Individual Specimen from Reconstituted Block using a Thin-walled Stainless Sampler: (a) Inserting the
Sampler Into the Reconstituted Block, (b) Pulling the Sampler and Specimen Out of the Block, (c) Extruding the Specimen from
the Sampler, (d) Separating the Specimen from the Sampler using a Wire Saw, (e) Using the Three-way Split Mould to Hold the
Specimen, (f) Triming the Specimen, (g) Moving the Specimen Onto a Frame and Fixed with Three Screws, (h) The Specimen
Storage

specimen during the extruding process. It is noted that the
part of about 20 mm at the end of the specimen which would
be removed to minimize the end effect during consolidation,
should be left free when attaching the three-way split mould.
Additionally, to reduce the friction between the walls and
specimens and make it easy to remove the three-way split
mould later, oil-based lubricant was applied to the internal
walls of the three-way split mould (Fig. 2(c)).
4. When the height of the specimen extruded from the sampler
was reached the desired value, the three-way split mould
and sampler were slowly leveled off at the same time. The
specimen was then cut using a wire saw and separated from
the sampler (Fig. 2(d)).
5. The other two pieces of the three-way split mould were
installed on the specimen. This process was conducted as
careful as possible to align with the three-way split mould. A
steel ring was used to hold the three-way split mould together
(Fig. 2(e)). The specimen was carefully trimmed at each end
of the three-way split mould until the desired specimen
height (80 mm) was obtained (Fig. 2(f)).
6. The filter paper discs and porous stones were placed at the
ends of the specimen sequentially. The specimen with split
mould, filter paper discs and porous stones were then moved
onto a frame and fixed with three screws (Fig. 2(g)). The
specimen was wrapped in preservative bags and stored in a
sealed box to maintain the moisture during storage (Fig. 2(h)).
It is noted that the filter paper and porous stones were satu-
rated before they were attached to the specimen.
When the specimen was obtained successfully, the thin-walled
stainless sampler was cleaned. After that, another specimen was
prepared following the same steps. All specimens were wrapped
in preservative bags and stored in a sealed box until ready for
use. By this way, almost 20 specimens can be obtained in a single
preparation process. It is more efficient than those traditional
specimen reconstitution procedures.
4. Assessment of Specimen Uniformity
4.1 Dry Density
The ability to prepare identical specimens with desired dry
density was demonstrated by measuring the dry density of the
specimens prepared in different batches. All specimens were
weighted and their water contents were measured, and then the
dry densities can be determined. The determined dry density
distribution of the specimens is presented in Fig. 3. As expected,
the dry densities concentrate around the desired value. The
maximum difference between the obtained dry density and the
desired dry density is about 0.01 Mg/m3. The standard deviation
of these value is only 0.00486, and the coefficient of variation is
0.002946.
Additionally, the dry densities at various layers of the reconstituted
block were also measured. Two positions were randomly selected
to measure the dry densities at various layers. Three cutting ring
specimens (61.8 mm in diameter and 20 mm in height) were
obtained right below the selected position. Three layers were
examined and they were corresponding to the top, middle and
bottom of the triaxial specimen, respectively. Narrow trenches
were cut around 4 sides of a 100 mm wide silt clay slab with a
small shovel from a depth of about 15 mm below the reconstituted
block top surface. By excavating about 30 mm downwards, the
soil slab with a dimension of approximate 100 × 100 × 30 mm
was cut and taken out from the consolidometer. Then, the soil

Vol. 21, No. 1 / January 2017 − 153 −

 Wenhua Liu, Xiaowei Tang, and Qing Yang
Fig. 3. Dry Density Distribution
Fig. 4. Dry density Variations of Various Layers
slab was placed on a rotating pedestal and trimmed with a wire
saw. Integral cutting rings were lowered onto these soil slabs
during trimming. The rings and soils were weighted and the
water contents were measured. The dry densities were eventually
determined.
Figure 4 shows the variation of the dry density versus the
height of the reconstituted block. As expected, the dry density is
increasing from the middle part to the top and bottom of the soil
block. This is attributed to the fact that the slurry at the top and
bottom of the soil block has shorter drainage paths. The slurry at
the top and bottom of the soil block consolidated more sufficiently.
The maximum difference in dry density throughout the whole
block height is about 0.013 Mg/m3. The non-uniformity due to
the dry density discrepancy can be eliminated by increasing the
consolidation time. The cost is that the test duration will be
accordingly increased.
4.2 Water Content and Grain Size Distribution
The triaxial specimens were cut into four slices and the water
content of each slice was measured. The variation in water content
versus the height of the specimens is presented in Fig. 5. As
expected, the water content is lower from middle towards the top
and bottom of the specimens where the drainage paths are
relatively short. It can be seen from Fig. 5 that the water content
throughout the specimens is identical and the specimens are
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Fig. 5. Variation in Water Content from the Top to Bottom of the
Specimens
Fig. 6. Grain Size Distribution of Silt Clay Obtained from the Top to
Bottom of the Specimens
homogeneous from this perspective. The maximum difference in
water content throughout the three specimens is only 1.02%,
which is the same order with the results (Δω, max = 1.20%)
reported by Wang et al. (2011). It should be noted that the degree
of saturation which was measured by checking the B-value as
described in the late section “Static Triaxial Tests”, is about 96%
and it is very close to a full saturation state. Water content is a
measurement of void ratio, assuming that the degree of saturation is
identical throughout the specimens and the specimens are fully
saturated (Wang et al., 2011). From this aspect, it is reasonable to
conclude that the void ratio is extremely uniform throughout the
specimens.
The grain size distribution analysis was performed to check the
soil particle segregation during consolidation. Fig. 6 shows the
grain size distributions of silt clay obtained from different positions
of the specimens. This figure demonstrates that the specimens
are extremely uniform with respect to their grain size distribution
as the gradation curves for the three positions of interest are
completely coincide. This can be attributed to the low initial water
content of slurry which is only 40% (about 1.7 times the liquid
limit). Voids between the soil particle skeleton are insufficient to
allow the larger particles to pass and settle down, avoiding
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 A Slurry Consolidation Method for Reconstitution of Triaxial Specimens
segregation.
4.3 Soil Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC)
The SWCC is defined as the relationship between (matric)
suction and water content, which is related to the pore-size
distribution of the soil (Yang et al., 2004). According to the
capillary law, there is an inverse relationship between
suction and the radius of curvature of the air-water interface.
Pores will be desaturated when the radius of curvature of the
air-water interface exceeds the radius of pores. The the
pore-size frequency distribution can be obtained from the
SWCC (Simms and Yanful, 2001, 2004). From this point of
view, the SWCC can reflect the pore-size distribution to some
extent.
In the present case, three specimens were randomly selected to
measure the SWCCs, so as to evaluate the uniformity of the
pore-size distribution throughout the specimens. The SWCCs
were determined using a pressure plate device (Soilmoisture
Equipment Inc.) based on the axis-translation technique (Hilf,
1956). As the matric suction (equal to air pressure) increased,
water was expelled from the soil specimen through the saturated
high-air entry ceramic disk until an equilibrium was reached.
The specimens were carefully weighed every 24 hours after they
were equilibrated for 15 days under a suction increment. The
equilibrium was assumed to complete when the changes in the
weight of soil specimens was negligible for a suction increment
(i.e. less than 0.05% the volume of the soil specimen over a
period of 24 hours (Sivakumar, 1993; Zhan, 2003)). The procedure
was repeated at higher applied matric suctions until the specimens
were equilibrated under the specified highest matric suction. The
final water content was measured by oven-drying the specimens.
The water contents at other applied matric suctions were determined
by the back-calculation. The testing results are presented in
Fig. 7. The figure indicates that the soil water characteristic curves
of the three specimens are nearly the same. The maximum
difference of the water content under the same matric suction is
only 0.52%. The air-entry value is defined as the suction at
which air first enters the largest pore present in the soil specimen
during a drying process (Brooks and Corey, 1966). The air-entry
Fig. 7. Soil Water Characteristic Curve
Vol. 21, No. 1 / January 2017
values of the three specimens are 20.4, 19.3 and 18.6 kPa,
respectively. The maximum difference between the three air
entry values is about 2 kPa. These results make it reasonable to
conclude that the pore-size distribution is uniform all over the
specimens.
5. Triaxial Tests
To further verify the ability of this new slurry consolidation
method for preparing identical specimens, several specimens
were randomly selected for the static and cyclic triaxial tests. The
specimens were taken out from the sealed box and the three-way
split moulds were carefully slid away from the specimens. The
specimens were then moved to the triaxial base platen for triaxial
testing. This process should be conducted as careful as possible
to minimize the disturbance on the specimens. The dimensions
of the specimens were measured and compared to the initial sizes
(before the split moulds were removed) after the movement. The
small differences confirm that the sliding and moving process
had not introduced significant disturbance to the specimens.
5.1 Static Triaxial Tests
Three consolidated drained triaxial compression tests were
performed under a confining pressure (σ3) of 50 kPa. These tests
were conducted to verify the repeatability of static triaxial test
using a GDS triaxial apparatus. Before test, the B-value was
checked for each specimen and it was 0.95, 0.96 and 0.964,
respectively. Back pressure was then applied to saturate the
specimen until the B-value was higher than 0.98 (Wang et al.,
2011). After saturation, all specimens were isotropically consolidated
under the confining pressure of 50 kPa. The completion of
consolidation was identified when there was no excess pore-
water pressure and the pore-water volume reached equilibrium.
An axial strain rate of 0.01%/min was then set for shearing under
the drained condition.
Figure 8 shows the stress-strain-volumetric curves of the three
specimens. It can be seen that the stress-strain-volumetric curves
are nearly identical in shape. The maximum differences in
Fig. 8. Stress-strain-volumetric Response of Slit Clay in Triaxial
Compression Tests
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 Wenhua Liu, Xiaowei Tang, and Qing Yang
Fig. 9. Comparisons of Cyclic Testing: (a) Stress History, (b) Stress-strain Curve
deviator stress and volumetric strain at the axial strain of 15% are
8.1 kPa and 0.122%, respectively, which is 5.93% and 8.21% of
the average values of the deviator stresses and volumetric strains.
Such small differences of the deviator stress and volumetric
strain are acceptable in consideration of the experimental and
human error.
5.2 Cyclic Triaxial Tests
5.2.1 Traditional Cyclic Triaxial Tests
The cyclic triaxial tests were conducted using a CKC e/p
Cyclic Loader, an automated feedback-controlled triaxial testing
system (Chan, 1981). Cyclic triaxial tests were conducted at a
loading frequency of 0.1 Hz, with a net confining pressure of 50
kPa. A haversine pulse was used in the cyclic triaxial test. Two
specimens were randomly selected and loaded at a cyclic shear
stress (σd) of 80 kPa (Fig. 9). The stress history and stress-strain
curves of the two tests are almost the same. The two
reconstituted specimens behave almost in the same way under
the cyclic loads.
5.2.2 Influence of Drying-wetting on the Cyclic Behaviors
of Silt Clay
In addition to the above testing program, the new specimen
preparation method was used to study the effect of drying-
wetting on the cyclic behaviors of unsaturated silt clay. Previous
study has demonstrated that the soil water characteristic curve of
the slurry consolidated silt clay reaches an equilibrium state after
about 3 drying-wetting cycles (Liu et al., 2015a), which means
the soil structure reaches an equilibrium state after about 3
drying-wetting cycles. In this section, cyclic triaxial tests were
performed and two treatments were investigated: D-W-0, the
control treatment, in which specimens were not subjected to any
drying-wetting cycle; and D-W-6, specimens were subjected to
six drying-wetting cycles. Six drying-wetting cycles were performed
on D-W-6 to ensure that the soil structure reaches a complete
equilibrium state. For drying-wetting, the reconstituted specimens
(still stored in the three-way split mould, avoiding disturbance of
handling during the drying-wetting process) were air dried in the
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laboratory at a temperature range between 24°C and 26°C. To
simulate the process of water content redistribution in the nature
field due to the comparatively lower evaporation rate at night, in
the laboratory, every evening the specimens were placed in a
sealed box to allow moisture content equilibration. Air-drying
was continued until the water content of the specimens fell to a
value of 5%. During the air-drying process, all individual specimens
were carefully weighed every 24 hours. When their weights were
close to the desired values, every specimen was weighed every
hour. After the specimens obtained the specified water content,
they were placed in the vacuum pot for re-saturation. The drying-
wetting process was repeated until six drying-wetting cycles
were completed. The variations of SWCC and microstructure of
the specimen after six drying-wetting cycles has been well
reported in the reference (Liu et al., 2015b).
The cyclic triaxial test was performed on a modified CKC e/p
Cyclic Loader. The system was modified based on the axis-
translation technique, and equipped with a 5-bar high-air entry
disk. The pore-air pressure was controlled at the top of the
specimen, and the pore-water pressure was controlled at the base
of the specimen. One of the main challenges of testing unsaturated
soils using the suction control method is the long time required to
equilibrate the specimen under an applied suction (varying from
weeks to even months). To shorten the equilibration time of the
specimen placed in the triaxial testing chamber, the test specimens
were equilibrated to the desired suction in a pressure plate device
prior to placement in the triaxial apparatus. Once the equilibration
was completed, the test specimen was transferred to the test
chamber for testing. Cyclic triaxial tests were conducted with a
haversine pulse at a loading frequency of 1.0 Hz. The net
confining pressure was 50 kPa.
Test results for suction of 0 kPa and 100 kPa are illustrated in
Fig. 10. The cyclic stress ratio (σd/(2σ3)) is plotted against the
number of loading cycles at the axial accumulative plastic strain
of 5%. The cyclic stress ratio decreases with the increasing
number of loading cycles, and the cyclic strength is increased
after the repeated drying-wetting process. This can be attributed
to the fact that the specimens are irreversibly compressed due to
the maximum matric suction experienced during the drying-
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering
 A Slurry Consolidation Method for Reconstitution of Triaxial Specimens
Fig. 10. Cyclic Strength Curves with the Confining Pressure of 50 kPa: (a) Matric Suction s = 0 kPa, (b) Matric suction s = 100 kPa
wetting process. The irreversible volume compression results in
a decrease in the void ratio. The soil particles are packed more
densely, which leads to an increase in the inter-particle force.
This additional inter-particle force improves the cyclic strength
of soils. Of course, the development of micro-cracks during the
drying-wetting process and low degree of saturation resulting
from the drying-wetting may reduce the cyclic shear strength of
soils. The overall influence of drying-wetting depends on the
weights of the irreversible compression, development of micro-
cracks and low degree of saturation. In the present work, the
contribution of cyclic shear strength from the irreversible
compression outweighs the effect of the development of micro-
cracks and low degree of saturation after drying-wetting,
resulting in a net increase in the cyclic shear strength. The results
of the present work contradict the results reported by Zhao et al.
(2004, 2005). More detailed description and discussion on this
contradiction and the mechanism of the influence of drying-
wetting on the cyclic behaviors of unsaturated silt clay were
presented in the paper (Liu et al., 2015b).
6. Conclusions
The present study proposes a modified slurry consolidation
method to reconstitute specimens for triaxial testing. The triaxial
specimens were used to study the influence of drying-wetting on
the cyclic mechanical behaviors of silt clay. The following
conclusions can be drawn:
1. The measurements of dry density, water content, grain size
distribution and soil water characteristic curve throughout
the specimens show little variation all over the specimens,
verifying the uniformity of the specimens.
2. The small differences in the static and cyclic triaxial testing
results of different specimens confirm that this new method
can be used to prepare identical specimens for triaxial tests.
3. The main advantage of this slurry consolidation method is
that numerous homogeneous silt clay specimens can be
reconstituted in the laboratory in a single preparation pro-
cess. These specimens can be treated in the repeated drying-
Vol. 21, No. 1 / January 2017
wetting process at the same time and also be processed in
the pre-equalization procedure, which is very important for
the continuity of the subsequent unsaturated triaxial tests
and the whole test time reduction.
4. This new method is more efficient with respect to the speci-
men reconstitution procedures. The reconstitution proce-
dures (slurry preparation, pouring, consolidation etc.) are
conducted only once in preparing the almost 20 specimens.
Each specimen is stored in a separate three-way split mould
to avoid disturbance of handling in the subsequent drying-
wetting process, which is of great importance for a quantita-
tive evaluation of the effect of drying-wetting on the
mechanical behaviors of soils.
5. This proposed approach produces specimens with a high ini-
tial degree of saturation (about 96%), which expedites the
subsequent saturation process.
6. Drying-wetting has an irreversible influence on the cyclic
behaviors of unsaturated soils. The cyclic strength is
increased after drying-wetting. It is attributed to the influ-
ence triggered by the irreversible compression of soil parti-
cles outweighing the effect of the development of micro-
cracks and low degree of saturation after drying-wetting.
More detailed description and discussion on the influence of
drying-wetting cycles on the cyclic behaviors of unsaturated
silt clay can be found in the paper (Liu et al., 2015b).
7. The specimens may have been subjected to some distur-
bance due to the material displacement at the cutting edge
during pushing the sampler into the consolidated soil mass.
However, that does not invalidate the study of the influence
of drying-wetting on the mechanical behaviors of unsatur-
ated soils, because all the specimens were obtained based on
the same procedure and the uniformity of specimens has
been demonstrated.
8. The proposed method may be not suitable for preparing
cemented triaxial specimens due to the cementation degra-
dation during the consolidation process (Nguyen et al.,
2014) and the difficulty in obtaining the triaxial specimens
using the thin-walled stainless sampler.
− 157 −
 Wenhua Liu, Xiaowei Tang, and Qing Yang
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China [51179023]. The first author would like to
thank Dr. Yin Wang at Dalian University of Technology, for
checking English writing.
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