Experimental study on unsaturated Double-Porosity soil phenomena under vibration effect

Abstract

A physical experiment approach was conducted to observe the deformation of double-porosity soil under vibration effect. The double-porosity soil characteristic was created using kaolin soil. An experiment on a soil sample fitted with accelerometer was conducted on a vibratory table to obtain peak ground acceleration and peak surface acceleration. After the vibration process, the deformable double-porosity soil was verified through field emission scanning electron microscopy tests. As seen in the microscope images, large surface cracks were observed due to the weakness of aggregated kaolin soil structure with its 25% water content. However, the 30% water content soil had small surface cracks due to its stronger soil structure. It was found that the deformable double-porosity soil had more fractured pores compared to the intact soil sample. From the acceleration response analysis, it was seen that both samples had amplification and dis-amplification shaking. In conclusion, the fractured double-porosity, as expected, has high permeability become a dominant factor in fluid migration. Meanwhile, the unconstrained soil and large fracture structure fabric showed significantly different porosity. The percentage of water content plays an important role in the structure of fractured double-porosity soil.