Abstract
In recent years, engineering constructions increase rapidly in western and central areas of China, where expansive soil widely distributes. Since expansive soil is sensitive to water content, the characterization of its shear strength should be carefully conducted. For simplicity and ease of use, the Mohr-Coulomb criterion is often adopted to describe the shear strength of expansive soil. In this paper, the physical meaning of the cohesion and frictional strength of expansive soil are explained, and the variations of the strength parameters with water content are investigated. By fitting to the experimental results from direct shear test and triaxial tests, the changing characteristics of cohesion and friction angle with water content are obtained.
Highlights
Expansive soil widely distributes in the western and central China
By using X-ray microtomography, Scheel et al [1] studied the influence of liquid content on the mechanical properties of glass beads; the findings provide a profound understanding on the wet granular material, including soil
Based on the direct shear tests and 3D molecular dynamic simulation of wet sand and glass beads with diameter of 0.1-1mm, Richefeu et al [3] found that with the gradual increase in the water content, the cohesion of wet granular materials increases firstly and tends to be unchanged, while the friction angle is irrespective of water content
Summary
Expansive soil widely distributes in the western and central China. Due to the season changes and temperature variation, the water content changes often. The influence of the water content on the shear strength of granular material has been studied experimentally and theoretically. By using X-ray microtomography, Scheel et al [1] studied the influence of liquid content on the mechanical properties of glass beads; the findings provide a profound understanding on the wet granular material, including soil. Based on the direct shear tests and 3D molecular dynamic simulation of wet sand and glass beads with diameter of 0.1-1mm, Richefeu et al [3] found that with the gradual increase in the water content, the cohesion of wet granular materials increases firstly and tends to be unchanged, while the friction angle is irrespective of water content. Based on direct shear tests, Elkady and Abbas [6] studied the influence of two loading paths on the drained strength behavior of expansive soil of the northeast region of Saudi, Arabia; the loading path was shown to affect the strength parameters slightly. The varying characteristics of cohesion and friction angle with the water content were clear shown
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