Spacial Issue on the Principle of Effective Stress

In 2012 together with Professor Hassanizadeh of Utrecht University, we prepared a proposal for a Euromech colloquium on the principle of Effective Stress in Unsaturated Porous Media. Euromech Council accepted the proposal and we could organize Euromech Colloquium 539 on the principle of Effective Stress in Unsaturated Porous media in Utrecht under auspices of Euromech, as well as supports of Utrecht University and TU/e. Professors Majid Hassanizadeh from Utrecht University and Jacques Huyghe from Tu/e were other co-chairpersons for this colloquium.

After the colloquium, with the suggestion of Professor Ning Lu of Colorado School of Mines who was present at the colloquium another proposal was submitted to Vadose Zone Journal to have selected contributors of this colloquium and some others from a general call to the porous media community, soil physics, and vadose zone hydrology to be invited to contribute to a special issue on the principle of effective stress in variably saturated porous media. The proposal was accepted by the journal and I served this special issue also as an invited co-editor.

Our editorial of the special issue has been among most read-papers of this journal since its online appearance; as of August 30, 2016, it appears within the items listed in most reads. These statistics are, of course, dynamic and change monthly.

This issue contains many interesting articles on a range of topics from

    • Stress measures for unsaturated granular media and consolidation theory for unsaturated soils,
    • A numerical study on the contribution of interfacial forces to
    • The suction stress and micromechanical study of effective stress combined with triaxial compression tests on glass spheres to
    • A modified effective stress form for unsaturated swelling clays derived from microstructure, effective stress for clays with different mineralogy,
    • Effect of stress on soil water retention curve and subsequently on shear strength, and
    • Finite deformation and fluid flow in unsaturated soils with random heterogeneity and much more.

Please find the full table of contents here and our editorial here.