An experimental study of the relationships between color, degree of saturation and matric suction of unsaturated soils

Due to the limitations of experimental techniques, it is quite time-consuming to measure the matrix suction of unsaturated soils. The Rapid measurement of matric suction becomes one of the primary goals recently in the research field of unsaturated soils. This paper presents some researches on the relationship between color and matric suction for unsaturated soils, mainly for a sand and a silt, based on the degree of saturation which is taken as an intermediate variable, by analyzing soil colors with the technique of digital image processing. With the relationships, the matric suction of a soil can be predicted by related indicators on values of soil color, so the rapid measurement of matric suction of unsaturated soils can be achieved. ©, 2015, Shuili Xuebao/Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. All right reserved.