南沙群岛珊瑚砂物理力学性质研究

珊瑚砂是发育于热带海洋环境中特殊的岩土介质类型，主要由珊瑚碎屑和其它海洋生物碎屑组成，碳酸钙含量高达96％。特殊的发育环境、物质组成和结构导致了珊瑚砂具有独特的物理力学性质。本文对采白南沙群岛珊瑚岛礁的珊瑚砂样品进行了。系列室内土力学试验，根据试验结果讨论了珊瑚砂的比重、孔隙比、压缩性、破碎性、剪切特性等，指出了珊瑚砂具有不同于石英砂的比重和孔隙比等物理特性，力学性质的特殊性表现在三个方面：内摩擦角大，高压缩性和易破碎。作者认为颗粒破碎是影响珊瑚砂变形和强度特性的主要因素。全面深入地研究珊瑚砂的基本物理力学性质，可为珊瑚岛礁工程建设提供科学合理的设计参数，避免工程事故的发生。

Physical and Mechanical Properties of Coral Sand in the Nansha Islands

Coral sand is a unique material developed in the tropical ocean environment, which is mainly composed of coral and other marine organism debris, with the CaCO3 content up to 96 %. It has special physical and mechanical properties due to its composition, structure and sedimentary environment. In this contribution, we discuss its specific gravity, porosity ratio compressibility, crushing, shearing and intensity for coral sand samples from the Nansha islands based on laboratory mechanical tests. Our results show distinct high porosity ratio, high friction angle and low intensity as compared with the quartz sand. We believe that grain crushing is the main factor that influences the deformation and strength of coral sand. Comprehensive study on the physical and mechanical properties of coral sands is significant in providing reliable scientific parameters to construction on coral islet, and thus avoids accidents in construction.