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Abstract Experimental research on intact unsaturated loess under three different natural dry densities and six different water contents is conducted by using unsaturated soil consolidation apparatus，and the effects of natural dry density and vertical stress on soil-water characteristics are analyzed. The test results show that the initial matric suction of the intact unsaturated loess water content，and the dry density has an considerable effect on soil-water characteristics. A concept of critical load of suction is proposed. Under the same dry density of the intact unsaturated loess，the critical load of suction decreases with the increasing water content. Under the same water content of the intact unsaturated loess，the critical load of suction increases with the increasing natural dry density. Under the fixed water content，the change of dry density induced by the vertical load has different effects on the suction from the change of the initial dry density. The vertical stress has little effect on soil-water characteristic curves，so the suction situation could be described by using soil-water characteristic curves under zero-load condition. Finally，the function of fitted soil-water characteristic curves is established.
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Received: 27 March 2013
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2014, Vol. 33 
