  We employ a novel fluid-particle model to study the shearing behavior of
granular soils under different saturation levels, ranging from the dry material
via the capillary bridge regime to higher saturation levels with percolating
clusters. The full complexity of possible liquid morphologies is taken into
account, implying the formation of isolated arbitrary-sized liquid clusters
with individual Laplace pressures that evolve by liquid exchange via films on
the grain surface. Liquid clusters can grow in size, shrink, merge and split,
depending on local conditions, changes of accessible liquid and the pore space
morphology determined by the granular phase. This phase is represented by a
discrete particle model based on Contact Dynamics, where capillary forces
exerted from a liquid phase add to the motion of spherical particles. We study
the macroscopic response of the system due to an external compression force at
various liquid contents with the help of triaxial shear tests. Additionally,
the change in liquid cluster distributions during the compression due to the
deformation of the pore space is evaluated close to the critical load.
