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Hydraulic-mechanical properties of loess and its behavior when subjected to infiltration-induced wetting

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Abstract

Water retention, unsaturated permeability, and deformation-failure characteristics induced by infiltration were studied by analyzing stress-dependent soil–water characteristics and the wetting stress path of unsaturated intact clayey loess in Baoji, China. Test results in Baoji and Heifangtai were compared. The results show the following: (1) The soil–water characteristic shape is related to stress, and suction decreases with water content; (2) the van Genuchten model is applicable to the clayey loess in Baoji, (3) the unsaturated permeability coefficient is related to stress, which increases with axial net stress; (4) under certain confining stress, hydraulic properties of loess vary considerably by region and, compared with loess in Heifangtai, the water retention capacity of clayey loess in Baoji is greater; (5) brittle deformation is dominant in Baoji but plastic deformation is dominant in Heifangtai; and (6) deformation behavior and the strength of loess is related to the confining stress, and the combined action of that stress and suction cause breakage of loess cementation bonds. The decrease of matric suction is not necessary for loess deformation, but the breakage of cementation bonds is the essence of the decreasing strength and final deformation failure of loess.

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(modified after Liu 1966, 1985)

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(After Shi et al. 2016)

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the “Twelfth Five-Year” National Science and Technology Pillar Program (No. 2012BAK10B02) and Scientific Research Fund of the Institute of Geomechanics, CAGS (Grant no. DZLXJK201409). The authors express their sincere gratitude to YF Zhou and B Hu (Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute of Changjiang Water Resources Commissions) for their help with the tests during the research period. The authors express their sincere thanks to the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their invaluable help and guidance throughout.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Neotectonics Movement and Geohazards, Ministry of Land and Mineral Resource, Beijing, 100081, China

    Changyu Liang & Shuren Wu

  2. Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Changyu Liang, Chunshan Cao & Shuren Wu

  3. School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Chunshan Cao

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  1. Changyu Liang
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Correspondence to Changyu Liang.

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Liang, C., Cao, C. & Wu, S. Hydraulic-mechanical properties of loess and its behavior when subjected to infiltration-induced wetting. Bull Eng Geol Environ 77, 385–397 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-016-0943-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-016-0943-x

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