Solute suction and shear strength in saturated soils

So far limited experimental data are available that demonstrate the contributions of the independent suction components (matrix and solute suctions) to the shear strength of unsaturated soils. Previous experimentation on the capillary model (Katte & Blight, 2012) concluded that relatively small changes in surface tension occur upon addition of solutes to the pore water. These have little or no effect on the shear strength at constant matrix suction even though the solute suction may be large. The objective of this paper is to validate the former by carrying out consolidated drained tests on saturated cohesionless soils with varying solute concentration hence solute suction while assessing the shear strength.