Unsaturated Soil Mechanics for Sustainable Urban Living
Impact of Climate
Slope Stability
Effect of Rainfall on Tree Stability
Preventive Measures
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
Soil Water Characteristic Curve
Permeability Function for Unsaturated Soil
Shear Strength for Unsaturated Soil
Seepage Analyses
Stability Analyses
About this Digital Project
Videorecordings
An NTU Digital Project
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics for Sustainable Urban Living
Authors
![](https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/usmsul/files/2019/09/Prof-Harianto-6-sized.jpg)
Prof Harianto Rahardjo
Professor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
View Prof Harianto Rahardjo’s publications
Dr Alfrendo Satyanaga Nio
Senior Research Fellow
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
First and Second textbooks
![](https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/usmsul/files/2019/06/unsaturated-soil-mechanics-engineering-practice.jpg)
NTU Library Resources
Research @NTU on Unsaturated Soil Mechanics for Sustainable Urban Living in Singapore
Singapore is located in a tropical region where abundant rainfalls and high temperatures provide conditions for rapid and thorough insitu chemical and mechanical weathering of rocks. The active weathering process gives rise to deep residual soil profiles. In tropical regions, residual soils commonly exist in an unsaturated state with negative pore-water pressures. The negative pore-water pressures contribute additional shear strength to the unsaturated soils. Numerous studies have indicated that many slopes often fail during and after periods of heavy rainfalls in Singapore. Trees also tend to be overturned under similar conditions. Infiltration of water into the soil occurs during rainfall, reducing negative pore-water pressures and reducing the shear strength of the soil. The end result is the failure of many slopes and the uprooting of trees during heavy rainfalls. The assessment of stability of slopes and trees needs to take into consideration the mechanics and properties of unsaturated soils and the flux boundary conditions related to the imposed climate (i.e., rainfall infiltration, evaporation and transpiration across the ground surface). The application of unsaturated soil mechanics to geotechnical engineering is generally considered to be beyond classical soil mechanics and it is usually ignored by engineers. Unsaturated soil mechanics is becoming increasingly important as engineers become aware that global climate change concerns can be taken into consideration when analyzing the dynamic inter-action between the environment and near-ground-surface soils.
As Singapore moves towards a more liveable, and more sustainable city, carefully planned and executed research must be carried out to optimise land and resource utilisation. Over the past two decades, the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at NTU has embarked on several collaborative research projects which have attempted to provide state-of-the-art solutions to overcome problems imposed by inter-actions with the environment and the environmental changes and resource limitations. The cutting edge research in unsaturated soil mechanics conducted @ NTU has been a major contributor to the realization of the sustainable city blueprint for Singapore in facing challenges associated with global climate changes.
Objectives of Research | Research Collaboration Projects NTU & PWD | Research Collaboration Projects NTU & HDB-BRI | Research Collaboration Projects NTU & NParks | Research Collaboration Projects NTU, BCA & SLA | About this Digital Project
New * NTU-CEE State-of-the-art Webinar (Prof Harianto RAHARDJO), 05 Feb 2021. Organised by NTU CEE Seminar Committee Slides
New * UTM Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series, 30 June 2020. “Sustainable Urban Development” by Professor Harianto Rahardjo Slides | Video