Abstract
Red-bed argillaceous siltstone is a common soft rock in the drawdown area of water diversion project extending from the Yangtze to Huaihe Rivers, with the characteristics of water softening and disintegration, which directly threatens the stability and safety of the diversion project. To better understand the effect of cyclic drying–wetting on the disintegration characteristics and mechanism, disintegration experiments were conducted on the red-bed argillaceous siltstone from the Tongcheng area of the water diversion project extending from the Yangtze to Huaihe Rivers. Experimental results indicated that, with an increasing number of drying–wetting cycles, the red-bed argillaceous siltstone was gradually crushed, large particles gradually transformed into small particles. A microstructural analysis showed that a continuous drying–wetting process resulted in the sample surface becoming disordered and complicated, and new micro-fractures and pores were generated. Notable changes in the concentrations of ions in the soaking solutions indicated continuous dissolution of the minerals, and a large amount of mineral loss under the action of cyclic drying–wetting. Furthermore, the evolution of disintegration parameter further indicated that the disintegration of red-bed argillaceous siltstone was gradually intensified by the increasing number of drying–wetting cycles. The fractal dimension D and the incremental surface energy gradually increased with an increase in the number of drying–wetting cycles. Thus, the proposed energy dissipation model effectively describes the disintegration characteristics of red-bed argillaceous siltstone under the cyclic drying–wetting, and thus, it can be used to guide engineering practices.
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Funding
This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41672306 and No. 41877262), the Special Project for Major Science and Technology in Anhui Province (18030801103), and the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (1908085QD168).
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Huang, K., Kang, B., Zha, F. et al. Disintegration characteristics and mechanism of red-bed argillaceous siltstone under drying–wetting cycle. Environ Earth Sci 81, 336 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10450-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10450-5