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In geotechnical practice most soils are in unsaturated conditions, for instance the compacted soils used in several engineering constructions (such as earth dams, highways, embankments, and airport runways). In fact, testing the soil in unsaturated conditions is not common in soil mechanics laboratory. Plane-strain (biaxial) test is also not common in soil mechanics laboratory tests. Even though, in reality, the state of deformation of several structures (e.g., long retaining walls and strip foundations) is plane-strain state. The biaxial testing procedures are more complex compared to triaxial tests. Several researchers have extensively studied the strain localization in biaxial tests for dry or saturated soils. But there is no study concerning the effect of soil suction on the characteristics of shear bands in unsaturated conditions.

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A method for dating sediment core layers from the Var riverbed was developed. The signature of the Chernobyl event was detected in the layer sequence by g-ray spectrometry of 137 Cs and correlated to the flow amplitude from the historical records.The residence time of groundwater in the aquifer of the lower Var valley was determined by measuring activity ratios of radium isotopes in well water samples. To cite this article: V.

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