Response of different osmotic membranes and calibration of a coupled model capturing the temperature effect for the osmotic method

Priority Research Centre for Geotechnical and Materials Modelling, School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

^a Corresponding author: Xianfeng.Liu@newcastle.edu.au

Abstract

Reliable suction control is of paramount importance for experimental unsaturated soil mechanics. The osmotic method, based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) and semi-permeable membranes, is one of the possible methods to control suction. Although this method is quite simple to implement, reliable results can only be obtained with adequate calibration curves linking suction and PEG concentration, and a good understanding of the factors influencing the method. Several studies have investigated different aspects of this method, including the osmotic potential generated by given PEG concentrations, but the effect of temperature is not yet fully captured. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the osmotic method looking at the long-term response of three different types of membranes, the effect of temperature, PEG molecular weight (MW) and the combination of different MW cut off (MWCO) on the calibration curves. Finally the data were used to calibrate a model capturing the temperature effect, in a coupled manner, in order to provide a robust calibration.