Water retention behaviour of compacted and reconstituted scaly clays

The paper presents the results of an experimental research devoted to investigate the response tosuction variations of a scaly clay in compacted and reconstituted conditions. Different experimentaltechniques (axis translation, vapour equilibrium, dew point psychrometer suction measurements) werecombined in order to explore the water retention properties in a wide suction range (0 ÷ 110 MPa).Experimental results allowed to define the water retention domains for a constant reference void ratio,highlighting the significant role of the microstructure on the response of the investigated clays. In particular,the collected results showed that in the low-medium suction range, the peculiar microstructural features giveto the reconstituted clay a better retention capability than the compacted clay. However, the increasingsuction induces a significative volumetric shrinkage on the saturated reconstituted clay, especially when thelatter is initially normally consolidated. On the other hand, quite similar retention properties wererecognized in the high suction range.