f LAB STUDIES OF ACOUSTIC BEHAVIORS OF UNSATURATED SOILS

Soils are unconsolidated granular materials, consisting of solid particles, water and air. Their mechanical and dynamic behaviors are determined by the discrete nature of the media as well as external and inter-particle forces. For unsaturated soils, two factors significantly affect soils acoustic/seismic responses: external pressure and internal water potential/soil suction. In triaxial cell tests, unsaturated soils were subjected to predefined stress paths to undergo stages of normal consolidation, unload-reload cycles, and failure. The stress deformation curve and stress-P-wave velocity were measured and compared.