Physical effects of liquid-vapor water transition in unsaturated soils

The retention of water in soil is one of the main concerns of soil mechanics. Suction implies negative water pressure in pores for unsaturated soils. The existence of such pressure implicates that water can sustain tension meaning that its nucleation is avoided through the shape of the soil skeleton. Under these conditions, there is a competition between nucleation and air entry during the desaturation of soils, ruled by Young-Laplace's law and the Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT). Nucleation also rules the gravimetric water content in pores not in direct contact with the boundary condition surrounding the soil. Moreover the overall use of methods such as axis translation modifies the soil water retention through restrained nucleation and increase of the adsorption film thickness. The soil water characteristic curve is hence modified.