Abstract
In recent years, with the rapid development of social economy and progress of human activities in loess area, the Loess Plateau become one of the areas with the most serious soil erosion and the most frequent occurrence of geological disasters in the world. Landslide, collapse, debris flow and ground subsidence are common geological disasters in the Loess Plateau, resulting in a more fragile ecological environment. Therefore, it is very important to accurately predict the stability of loess slope for engineering safety and ecological protection in loess region. But loess is a typical unsaturated soil. the formula of unsaturated strength is seldom used in practical applications. The reason is that the matric suction is difficult to measure. And it cannot be applied in engineering practice. In this paper, based on unsaturated soil shear strength formula of Fredlund, the direct shear test under different moisture content is conducted with the samples of Q1 loess. The effective cohesion and the effective internal friction angle are obtained. Through the matric suction test, the soil-water characteristic curve is plotted. Combined cohesion and matric suction, the strength parameters of unsaturated loess in formula of Fredlund can be informed.
Highlights
IntroductionIn practical engineering, unsaturated soil is generally regarded as saturated soil to study strength and deformation, but the mechanical properties of unsaturated soil are not considered, resulting in inaccurate research results
Unsaturated soil is more widely used in engineering
If the sample is near saturation, the matric suction is 0, which means that the third part of this formula is 0
Summary
In practical engineering, unsaturated soil is generally regarded as saturated soil to study strength and deformation, but the mechanical properties of unsaturated soil are not considered, resulting in inaccurate research results. In order to the complexity of the engineering characteristics of unsaturated soil and the difficulty of suction measurement[1], the research on the strength of unsaturated soil cannot be applied in engineering practice. The research on the strength theory of unsaturated soil and its application in engineering is undoubtedly the focus and direction in the future[2,3]. Loess is a typical unsaturated soil distributed in most of China. The sharp decrease of loess strength when exposed to water is the main reason for the geological disasters and project failure, such as landslide and collapse
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