It has been recognized unsaturated soil behaviour playing an important role in geomechanics. Up to now, only a few experimental data are available for the technical difficulties related to both volume changes and suction measurements. In this study, the volume changes of unsaturated compacted silty soil were monitored with proximeter (i.e. non-contactable transducer) during various triaxial compression tests, which gave a realistic estimation in the volume changes of unsaturated soil sample. Various triaxial compression tests for unsaturated soil under different drainage conditions are carried out. The behaviour of the pore pressure, namely, the pore-air pressure and the pore-water pressure, and matric suction during the shearing tests are investigated. The experimental results have revealed that the mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soil can be significantly affected by the matric suction.