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Geo-engineering descriptions and damage characteristics assessment for Xigeda formation, Yunnan Province, China

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Abstract

The study of mechanical properties of hard soils and soft/weak rocks is a hot issue in engineering geology and geotechnical engineering. As a typical hard soil or soft/weak rock, the Xigeda formation, which is a set of Cenozoic lacustrine semi-rock discontinuously distributed in Southwest China, causes problems when encountered in engineering practice due to its previously unknown mechanical behaviour, and geo-engineering descriptions and damage characteristics assessment for Xigeda formation are very important for engineering stability analysis. Typical samples taken from Zhaizi village along the Jinsha River have been studied. Influences of both the water content and the confining pressure on strength indices of the Xigeda formation were investigated by performing triaxial tests, and the statistical correlations between the shear strength index and the water content of the Xigeda formation, soft rock, and soil are analyzed. Furthermore, a damage constitutive model for the deformation of the Xigeda formation and the influence of the water content thereon was established. The results show that: (a) the peak strength, the cohesion, and the friction angle decrease linearly with increasing water content; (b) in ascending order, the sensitivity of cohesion to water content is ranked as: soft rock, the Xigeda formation, then soil, and the sensitivity of friction angle to water content is ranked as: soil, the Xigeda formation, then soft rock; (c) the damage constitutive model requires few input variables, has a simple form, and can reflect the deformation and strength characteristics of the Xigeda formation under different confining pressures and water contents. The results provide a mechanism with which to understand and model (for both theoretical study and engineering application) the Xigeda formation, and the damage characteristics assessment method of the Xigeda formation can also be used for reference by researching hard soils and soft/weak rocks.

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Modified from Xu and Liu (2011)

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Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The work reported in this paper is financially supported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2021325), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52179117, No. 51779250), and the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences Grant No. 131551KYSB20180042.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Xiaodong Fu & Qian Sheng

  2. School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xiaodong Fu & Qian Sheng

  3. Hubei Key Laboratory of Blasting Engineering, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, Hubei, China

    Yuxiang Du

  4. Hubei (Wuhan) Institute of Explosion Science and Blasting Technology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, Hubei, China

    Yuxiang Du

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  1. Xiaodong Fu
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Fu, X., Du, Y. & Sheng, Q. Geo-engineering descriptions and damage characteristics assessment for Xigeda formation, Yunnan Province, China. Environ Earth Sci 80, 670 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09982-z

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