Estimation of soil suction from field measured water content
Adejumo B.D. Satyanaga A. Dewangga E. Abishev R. Arinova A. Muratova A. Zhai Q. Moon S.W. Kim Y. Kim J.
April 2026Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment
2026#85Issue 4
Landslides triggered by rainfall are major catastrophes from climate-driven wetting and drying soil cycles. The soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) is of great significance in the evaluation of slope stability. It is also noted that SWCC behaves differently in the drying and wetting process, which is commonly referred to as the hysteresis of SWCC. The current equipment for the measurement of SWCC in the field are limited to a particular suction range, time-consuming, and tedious in operation. On the other hand, the estimation of the soil suction from SWCC in the field are mainly limited to the drying process. In this paper, a framework is proposed for the estimation of soil suction from field-measured water content by calibration with the laboratory-measured drying and wetting SWCC. The framework employs Newton-Raphson’s numerical technique to derive soil suction from the established fitting parameters and water content. Residual soils obtained from a slope at Sembawang in Singapore were used for calibration, with field instrumentation including moisture sensors, rain gauges, and piezometers installed to enable real-time monitoring. The results of the proposed framework were compared with experimental data from published literature. Strong correlations were observed between the measured and estimated drying and wetting SWCC. The in-situ soil suction responses were depth-dependent, with rapid variations near the surface and delayed changes at greater depths. Moisture accumulation was more obvious at the toe than at the crest, possibly increasing the risk of landslides. Therefore, the proposed framework for the estimation of soil suction from water content is recommended.
Geotechnical engineering , Landslide , Soil moisture , Soil suction , Unsaturated soil mechanics
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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structure of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structure of Ministry of Education
James Watt School of Engineering
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