Abstract
Under the conditions of wetting–drying cycles, the mechanical properties and structure of loess can change significantly, resulting in a series of engineering geological problems. There are many studies on the shear strength and structure of loess, but there are few studies on the shear strength and especially on the structure of loess under wetting–drying cycles. In this paper, the changes of loess structural and shear strength are explored when it is subjected to wetting–drying cycles. Taking Malan loess as the research object, conventional triaxial shear tests under a number of maximum 3 wetting–drying cycles are carried out. The results show that the changes of loess structural parameter and shear strength are similar, that is, they are both significantly reduced as the number of the cycles increases, and the decreasing trend is particularly intense after the first wetting–drying cycle. It shows that the repeated wetting–drying cycles have caused irreversible and gradual cumulative damage to the loess, and eventually decrease the strength and damage the structure of the undisturbed loess. Based on the analysis results, there is a good linear correlation between the structural parameter of loess and its shear strength. It is proved that this structural parameter has good adaptability to reflect the change of loess structure under the wetting–drying cycles.
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Acknowledgements
Financial support for this work is provided by the the joint funds of the national nature science foundation of China (U1765203) and the Guizhou Province Science and Technology Support Project [2019] (No. 2869).
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Communicated by Zeynal Abiddin Erguler.
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Qin, Y., Li, G., Chen, X. et al. Study on shear strength and structure of Malan loess under wetting–drying cycles. Arab J Geosci 14, 2854 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-09259-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-09259-6