This paper introduces a novel soil–water retention curve model that considers two different mechanisms of water retention – namely capillarity and adsorption – and their evolution with soil fabric along a generalized stress path. The model is formulated based on a new developed framework, which is justified against experimental evidence and incorporates the following developments: (i) the characteristics of the capillary and adsorption water retention curves are identified, and an ad-hoc water retention model is developed for each mechanism; (ii) the capillary and adsorption water retention curves are related to the experimentally determinable water retention curve thanks to a newly defined parameter named “contribution factor”, which changes with the evolution of the fabric. The proposed model is an elastoplastic water retention model and it allows to describe satisfactorily the water retention capacity of different soils. All simulation results support the statement that the adsorptive mechanism plays a crucial rule in the high suction range while capillarity is important in the low suction range. Moreover, it is shown that the developed capillary water retention curve allows to easily compute, at any state of the soil, a suitable capillary degree of saturation; the latter, adopted within the generalized effective stress concept, makes it possible to interpret shear strength data under different saturation conditions properly.

本文介绍了一种新颖的土壤-水分保持曲线模型，该模型考虑了两种不同的水分保持机理（即毛细作用和吸附），以及它们沿一般应力路径随土壤织物的演化。该模型是根据新开发的框架制定的，该框架针对实验证据是合理的，并结合了以下发展：（i）识别了毛细管和吸附水保留曲线的特征，并开发了一种临时的水保留模型每个机制；（ii）由于新定义的参数“贡献因子”，毛细管和吸附水保留曲线与实验可确定的水保留曲线相关，该参数随织物的发展而变化。提出的模型是一种弹塑性保水模型，可以令人满意地描述不同土壤的保水能力。所有的模拟结果都支持这样一种说法，即吸附机制在高吸力范围内起着至关重要的规则，而毛细作用在低吸力范围内起着重要的作用。此外，已表明，所建立的毛细管保水曲线可以轻松地在土壤的任何状态下计算出合适的毛细管饱和度；后者在广义有效应力概念中采用，可以正确解释不同饱和条件下的抗剪强度数据。所有的模拟结果都支持这样一种说法，即吸附机制在高吸力范围内起着至关重要的规则，而毛细作用在低吸力范围内起着重要的作用。此外，已表明，所发展的毛细管保水曲线可以轻松地在土壤的任何状态下计算出合适的毛细管饱和度；后者在广义有效应力概念中采用，可以正确解释不同饱和条件下的抗剪强度数据。所有的模拟结果都支持这样一种说法，即吸附机制在高吸力范围内起着至关重要的规则，而毛细作用在低吸力范围内起着重要的作用。此外，已表明，所发展的毛细管保水曲线可以轻松地在土壤的任何状态下计算出合适的毛细管饱和度；后者在广义有效应力概念中采用，可以正确解释不同饱和条件下的抗剪强度数据。