TY - JOUR
T1 - Building the UPPA high capacity tensiometer
AU - Mendes, Joao
AU - Gallipoli, Domenico
AU - Boeck, Fabian
AU - Von Unold, Georg
AU - Tarantino, Alessandro
PY - 2016/9/12
Y1 - 2016/9/12
N2 - High capacity tensiometers (HCTs) are sensors capable of directly measuring tensile pore water pressure (suction) in soils. HCTs are typically composed of a casing that encapsulates a high air entry value ceramic filter, a water reservoir and a pressure sensing element. Since the creation of the first HCT by Ridley and Burland in 1993 at Imperial College London, HCTs have been almost exclusively built and used in academic research. The limited use in industrial applications can be explained by a lack of unsaturated soil mechanics knowledge among engineering practitioners but also by the technical difficulties associated to the direct measurement of tensile water pressures beyond the cavitation limit of -100kPa. In this paper, we present the recent design and manufacture of a new HCT at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA) in France. Different prototypes were tried by changing the main components of the device including the type of ceramic filter, pressure transducer and geometry of the external casing. In particular, two ceramic filters of distinct porosity, three pressure transducers with distinct materials/geometries and four casing designs were tested.
AB - High capacity tensiometers (HCTs) are sensors capable of directly measuring tensile pore water pressure (suction) in soils. HCTs are typically composed of a casing that encapsulates a high air entry value ceramic filter, a water reservoir and a pressure sensing element. Since the creation of the first HCT by Ridley and Burland in 1993 at Imperial College London, HCTs have been almost exclusively built and used in academic research. The limited use in industrial applications can be explained by a lack of unsaturated soil mechanics knowledge among engineering practitioners but also by the technical difficulties associated to the direct measurement of tensile water pressures beyond the cavitation limit of -100kPa. In this paper, we present the recent design and manufacture of a new HCT at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA) in France. Different prototypes were tried by changing the main components of the device including the type of ceramic filter, pressure transducer and geometry of the external casing. In particular, two ceramic filters of distinct porosity, three pressure transducers with distinct materials/geometries and four casing designs were tested.
KW - high capacity tensiometer
KW - HCTs
KW - soil suction
KW - tensile pore water pressure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85013643698&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1051/e3sconf/20160910001
DO - 10.1051/e3sconf/20160910001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85013643698
VL - 9
JO - E3S Web of Conferences
JF - E3S Web of Conferences
SN - 2267-1242
M1 - 10001
ER -