Hydro-Mechanical Properties of an Unsaturated Frictional Material

Acknowledgement
The present dissertation was carried out in the frame of the DFG research unit ”Mechanics
of Unsaturated Soils” (FOR-444), where my main part was the processing of the subproject
”Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Granular Frictional Material”. I would like
to acknowledge the financial support provided by the DFG through the project. The work
on the project enabled me not only to write on my PhD-thesis but also to be introduced to
the scientific community working in the field of unsaturated soil mechanics. The attendance
at several international conferences allowed me to come into contact with internationally ac-
cepted scientists and to discuss with them my experimental results and theoretical approaches.
The outcome is among others an idea for ongoing research project.
My gratitude is also extended to all of my colleagues form the DFG group and to all of
my ”former” colleagues from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar for the active cooperation during
the last years as well as the good communication. I appreciate to be well received from my
”new” colleagues at Ruhr-Universität Bochum last year in 2009.
Special thank goes to my reviewers Prof. Maria Datcheva for providing me support in
the modeling of SWCC’s and Prof. Rainer Helmig for providing me support in the numerical
simulation of experimental results. And special thanks also goes to my reviewer Prof. Delwyn
G. Fredlund for the interesting discussions during his short stays at Bauhaus-Universität
Weimar and my stay at SoilVision in Saskatoon (Canada) on unsaturated soil behavior.
Last but not least I want to thank my supervisor Prof. Tom Schanz. I am especially
grateful, that he gave me the great opportunity to work with him after finishing my study in
civil engineering on the topic of unsaturated soil mechanics. The years under his supervision
are characterized by a great support and a fruitful collaboration.