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Experimental study on the shear characteristics of quartz sand exposed to high temperatures

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Abstract

We have investigated the evolution of the shear characteristics of quartz sand subjected to high temperatures present in long-runout landslides. Quartz sand samples were subjected to quantitative heat treatment at a range of peak temperatures. Based on the principle of the irreversibility of mechanical characteristics of soil materials after heating, dynamic ring-shear experiments were subsequently performed and the sample density and X-ray powder diffraction patterns were analyzed. The shear behavior, shear strength, residual shear stress, density of samples, particle size variation, and mineral composition variation were analyzed and the main conclusions are as follows: (1) quartz sand that has been exposed to high temperatures is more easily broken and its density changes; (2) particle size has a substantial influence on the residual shear stress and the amplitude of shear stress fluctuation; (3) copper-gold-iron was found in the samples after heat treatment. We interpret this to mean that a small quantity of metallic elements in the quartz can have adverse effects on the shear properties of the sand with exposure to high temperature.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42107168, 41831291, 42120104008).

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Correspondence to Yu Huang.

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Wang, S., Huang, Y. Experimental study on the shear characteristics of quartz sand exposed to high temperatures. Acta Geotech. 17, 5031–5041 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01603-8

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