Characteristics of strength and pore distribution of lime-flyash loess under freeze-thaw cycles and dry-wet cycles

This paper investigated the characteristics of unconfined compression strength and pore distribution of lime-flyash loess (LFL) by means of a series of experiments under freeze-thaw cycles or dry-wet cycles. The test samples, designed with moisture content 23.5% and dry density 1.565 g/cm³, were mixed at a certain mass ratio of 0.05(lime):0.1(flyash):1(dry loess). Unconfined compression strength tests and mercury injection experiments of LFL were both conducted. The data derived from unconfined compression strength tests indicated that the strength of LFL decreased dramatically after two times of dry-wet cycles, then strength increased slightly and kept stable in the following cycles, and the final strength loss was 29% under dry-wet cycles; the strength of LFL became stable after six times of freeze-thaw cycles, and the corresponding final strength loss was 16%. The data obtained from mercury injection experiments showed that the total pore volume of LFL under dry-wet cycles increased by 19%, in which volume proportion of large pores was dramatically increased but medium pores, small pores, and micropores stayed unchanged; while the total pore volume of LFL under freeze-thaw cycles increased by 14%, in which volume proportion of large pores was dramatically increased and micropores was slightly increased, but medium pores and small pores basically stayed unchanged. Therefore, both freeze-thaw cycles and dry-wet cycles undermine the strength of LFL, but they caused a typically different characteristic of pore distribution from the microperspective.