Abstract
The relationship between the water content or saturation of unsaturated soils and its matrix suction is commonly described by the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). Currently, study on the SWCC model is focused on fine-grained soils like clay and silty soils, but the SWCC model for grinding soil-rock mixture (SRM) is less studied. Considering that the SRM is in a certain compaction state in the actual project, this study established a surface model with three variables of coupling compaction degree-substrate suction-moisture content based on the Cavalcante-Zornberg soil-water characteristic curve model. Then, the influence of each fitting parameter on the curve was analyzed. For the common SRM, the soil-water characteristic test was conducted. Moreover, the experimental measurements exhibit remarkable consistency with the mode surface. The analysis shows that the surface model intuitively describes the soil-water characteristics of grinding SRM, which can provide the SWCC of soils with bimodal pore characteristics under specific compaction degrees. Furthermore, it can reflect the influence of compaction degrees on the SWCC of rock-soil mass and has a certain prediction effect. The SWCC of SRM with various soil-rock ratios have a double-step shape. With the increase in compaction degree, the curves as a whole tend toward decreasing mass moisture content. The curve changes are mainly concentrated in the large pore section.
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Data Availability
Data supporting this research article are available from the corresponding author on request.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (grant number KJZD-K202100705), and the Talents Program Supply System of Chongqing (grant number cstc2022ycjhbgzxm0080).
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WANG Kui, HUI Ying contributed to the conception of the study; HUI Ying, LI Xue performed the experiments; WANG Kui, HUI Ying analyzed the experimental data and wrote the manuscript; ZHOU Chuan, LI Xue, RONG Yao conducted constructive discussions. All authors revised the manuscript.
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Wang, K., Hui, Y., Zhou, C. et al. Soil-water characteristic surface model of soil-rock mixture. J. Mt. Sci. 20, 2756–2768 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-023-8090-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-023-8090-x