Soil Engineering and Foundation

Soil Engineering and Foundation ›› 2019, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (6): 693-696.

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The Unconfined Compressive Atrength and Failure Characteristics of Zhuanglang Compacted Collapsible Loess Soils

The collapsible loess of Level II~IV soils is widely distributed along the PingliangMianyan highway alignment. It is necessary to study the strength and failure characteristics for selecting better design parameters for the highway construction. In this paper, physical properties, mineral composition and compact characteristics of collapsible loess were extensively tested. Based on the unconfined compressive strength and failure characteristics tested under different degree of compactions and initial water contents, the conclusions could be made as follows: (1) The unconfined compressive strength and capacity of holding moisture are enhanced with increasing the degree of compaction; (2) The unconfined compressive strength achieved maximum value when the water contents were much higher than the optimum moisture content, however, the water content should not exceed 3% of the optimum moisture content; (3) The shear failure of soil samples was more and more obvious with the increasing degree of compactions, and conical failure mode was observed when the degree of compaction reached 100%. Brittle failure characteristics was less and less obvious with the increasing initial water contents, and lateral dilation behavior was presented when the water content reached 19%.   

  1. (1.Hubei Road and Bridge Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430056;
    2.Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071)
  • Received:2019-03-14 Revised:2019-04-01 Online:2019-12-28 Published:2019-12-28

Abstract: The collapsible loess of Level II~IV soils is widely distributed along the PingliangMianyan highway alignment. It is necessary to study the strength and failure characteristics for selecting better design parameters for the highway construction. In this paper, physical properties, mineral composition and compact characteristics of collapsible loess were extensively tested. Based on the unconfined compressive strength and failure characteristics tested under different degree of compactions and initial water contents, the conclusions could be made as follows: (1) The unconfined compressive strength and capacity of holding moisture are enhanced with increasing the degree of compaction; (2) The unconfined compressive strength achieved maximum value when the water contents were much higher than the optimum moisture content, however, the water content should not exceed 3% of the optimum moisture content; (3) The shear failure of soil samples was more and more obvious with the increasing degree of compactions, and conical failure mode was observed when the degree of compaction reached 100%. Brittle failure characteristics was less and less obvious with the increasing initial water contents, and lateral dilation behavior was presented when the water content reached 19%.

Key words: Compacted Soil, Collapsible Loess, Unconfined Compressive Strength, Failure Characteristics

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