GEOTECH - Volflo 1.5 to model moisture conditioned (pre-swelled) soils

[NTEIT]

It appears that VOLFLO has a single phone number and a single person to handle all tech support questions. This contact seems to be very busy lately and has not returned my calls. I thought it might be nice to start a thread specific to VOLFLO 1.5 so that we can collaborate.

MY QUESTION: I need a way to model moisture conditioned soils. My specific project has 3.5 feet of moisture conditioned soils which are pre-existing onsite. The soils are being pre-swelled and then 3 ft of select fill is being placed on top.

The only avenue I can find to accurately model pre-swelled soils is to create a measured suction profile, inputting measured/assumed suction values at strategic depths in the "Final Suction" area. My "initial suction" area should remain as default dry I presume. The major problem I have is determining these suction values.

Am I barking up the right tree? Has anyone done this before? As a temporary work-around we are entering false (lower PI) Atterburg limits in the swelled area.

PLease feel free to share any other question, tips and tricks associated with VOLFLO 1.5.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bksstructural]

There are a couple of papers on this topic that you can download from the Foundation Performance Organization (

http://www.foundationperformance.org).

There are several papers by Lytton who is an expert on the use of Volflow. I believe he suggests modeling the moisture conditioned pad as a root/moisture barrier, but you can read for yourself.