Compression characteristics of saturated re-compacted glacial tills in Tianmo Gully of Tibet,China

Glacial tills are highly compressible soils composed of loosely cemented sandy silt particles. Their role, for instance, as initial filler materials in geo-technical projects along temperate glacier regions warrant a systematic evaluation of their compressive characteristics. As such, we carry out a series of onedimensional compression tests on re-compacted glacial till samples obtained from Tianmo Gully, Tibet, with the aims of evaluating their compressive behavior under controlled initial stress conditions. The yield stress was determined from the void ratio versus consolidation pressure(e-log) planes. Its compression and swelling behaviors were observed during the primary and secondary compressions of the consolidation tests. From the compression curves, a correlation can be found between the consolidation stress and the void index. In addition, we find that the compression curves of glacial tills collapse into a single curve when normalized by the compression index. The experimental results in this study provide a basic understanding of the compression characteristics of the glacial tills in Tibet, China.     

Cyclic Shearing Deformation Behavior of Saturated Clays

The apparatus for static and dynamic universal triaxial and torsional shear soil testing is employed to perform stress-controlled cyclic single-direction torsional shear tests and two-direction coupled shear tests under unconsolidated-undrained conditions. Through a series of tests on saturated clay, the effects of initial shear stress and stress reversal on the clay’s strain-stress behavior are examined, and the behavior of pore water pressure is studied. The experimental results indicate that the patterns of stress-strain relations are distinctly influenced by the initial shear stress in the cyclic single-direction shear tests. When the initial shear stress is large and no stress reversal occurs, the predominant deformation behavior is characterized by an accumulative effect. When the initial shear stress is zero and symmetrical cyclic stress occurs, the predominant deformation behavior is characterized by a cyclic effect. The pore water pressure fluctuates around the confining pressure with the increase of cycle number. It seems that the fluctuating amplitude increases with the increase of the cyclic stress. But a buildup of pore water pressure does not occur. The de- formations of clay samples under the complex initial and the cyclic coupled stress conditions include the normal deviatoric deforma- tion and horizontal shear deformation, the average deformation and cyclic deformation. A general strain failure criterion taking into account these deformations is recommended and is proved more stable and suitable compared to the strain failure criteria currently used.     

Stability analysis of an unsaturated soil slope considering rainfall infiltration based on the Green-Ampt model

Based on the principle of saturated infiltration and the Green-Ampt model, an unsaturated infiltration model for a soil slope surface was established for either constant moisture content, or depth-varying moisture content and the slope. Infiltration parameters in the partially saturated slope were revealed under sustained rainfall. Through analysis of the variation of initial moisture content in the slope, the ponding time, infiltration depth, and infiltration rate were deduced for an unsaturated soil slope subject to rainfall infiltration. There is no ponded water on the surface of the slope under sustained low-intensity rainfall. The results show that the infiltration parameters of an unsaturated slope are influenced by the initial moisture content and the wetting front saturation, the soil cohesion and rainfall intensity under sustained rainfall. More short-term slope failures can occur with the decrease of cohesion of the soil of the slope. The ponding time and infiltration depth differ considering constant or different initial moisture content respectively in the soil slope. Then, best-fit curves of the infiltration rate, ponding time, and infiltration depth to the wetting front saturation were obtained with constant or different initial moisture contents. And the slope failure time is roughly uniform when subject to a rainfall intensity I5 mm/h.     

基于CT扫描的黄土孔隙结构特征研究

孔隙特征作为反映黄土微观结构的重要特征之一,直接影响黄土的水敏性、渗透性和强度等物理力学性质。为了研究水力耦合作用下黄土微观孔隙结构特征,使用CT技术对天然原状、原状饱和与重塑黄土的初始结构以及不固结不排水剪切试验后的土体结构进行了扫描,通过建立黄土三维结构模型,分析了剪切试验前后孔隙结构的演变特征。结果表明：饱和与重塑作用使天然原状黄土的大孔隙减少,剪切作用使天然原状黄土和重塑黄土发生剪切破坏,原状饱和黄土发生压缩破坏,局部孔隙率增加。天然原状黄土与原状饱和黄土在剪切前后均表现为微孔和小孔数量较多,其孔隙倾角主要分布在50°～90°之间,解释了黄土亚稳态结构形成的主要原因。扰动作用使重塑黄土的孔隙尺寸分布均匀,且重塑黄土与原状饱和黄土在水力作用下更易失稳屈服。揭示了黄土剪切变形破坏的微观结构主要表现为粒间胶结物的溶解、孔隙的坍塌与填充以及颗粒旋转、破碎和滑移。试验结果可为黄土剪切强度降低和湿陷机理研究提供依据。     

High-Speed Ring Shear Tests to Study the Motion and Acceleration Processes of the Yingong Landslide

In this paper, the motion and acceleration process, as well as the mechanism of a high speed and long run landslide are investigated by adopting high speed ring shear test and taking the landslide occurred at Yigong River in Bomi, Tibet on April 9, 2000 as the background. According to the motion characteristics of high-speed and long distance motion landside, the mechanism is studied under different conditions such as shear speed, consolidated drained and consolidated undrained status. Results show that high speed shearing process hinders and delays the dissipation of pore pressure, and drives pore water migrating to shear zone slowly. Both of water content and fine particle content at shear zone are obviously higher than those in other layers; and soil liquefaction occurs at shear zone in the saturated consolidated undrained ring shear tests. The effective internal friction angle of the consolidated undrained soil is much lower than that of the consolidated drained soil under ring shearing. The results also indicate that the shearing speed affecting the strength of soil to some extent. The higher the ring shearing speed is, the lower the strength of soil is. This investigation provides a preliminary interpretation of the mechanism of the motion and acceleration process of the Yigong landslide, occurred in Tibet in 2000.     

单轴压缩条件下不同含水率黑云母二长花岗岩破坏特征与机制

花岗岩在不同含水率条件下的变形破坏特征和机制对此类工程岩体稳定性评价具有重要的意义。开展不同含水率黑云母二长花岗岩单轴压缩试验,分析破坏特征和应力-应变曲线特征,开展断口扫描电镜试验,分析微观形貌特征,研究破坏机制。试验结果表明:黑云母二长花岗岩具有明显的应变软化特征;随含水率增大,曲线上微裂隙压密阶段长度逐渐增加,稳定破裂阶段及非稳定破裂阶段长度均逐渐缩短,但所占比例增大,曲线上峰前阶段涨落交替现象加剧;饱和时单轴抗压强度和弹性模量相比干燥时分别降低了40.68%,20.3%;变形破坏过程可大致分为以下5个阶段:平静期、裂纹萌生期、裂纹扩展伴随颗粒弹射期、片状碎片剥落伴随颗粒弹射期及崩落式破坏期;随含水率增大,花岗岩破坏时的剧烈程度、发出的声响及脆性程度均逐渐降低;花岗岩破坏机制为拉-剪复合破坏,低含水率时以压致拉张破坏为主,随含水率增大呈现拉张破坏减少而剪切破坏增多的趋势,饱和时以剪破坏为主。研究结果可为黑云二长花岗岩与水之间的耦合模型构建提供理论支撑,对水-岩耦合环境下工程岩体稳定性分析具有重要科学意义。      

Debris flows introduced in landslide deposits under rainfall conditions: The case of Wenjiagou gully

Debris flows often occur in landslide deposits during heavy rainstorms. Debris flows are initiated by surface water runoff and unsaturated seepage under rainfall conditions. A physical model based on an infinitely long, uniform and void-rich sediment layer was applied to analyze the triggering of debris-flow introduced in landslide deposits. To determine the initiation condition for rainfall-induced debris flows, we conducted a surface water runoff and saturated-unsaturated seepage numerical program to model rainfall infiltration and runoff on a slope. This program was combined with physical modeling and stability analysis to make certain the initiation condition for rainfall-introduced debris flows. Taking the landslide deposits at Wenjiagou gully as an example, the initiation conditions for debris flow were computed. The results show that increase height of surface-water runoff and the decrease of saturated sediment shear strength of are the main reasons for triggering debris-flows under heavy rainfall conditions. The debris-flow triggering is affected by the depth of surface-water runoff, the slope saturation and shear strength of the sediment.     

Effect of the inclined weak interlayers on the rainfall response of a bedded rock slope

Engineering experience shows that outward dipping bedded rock slopes, especially including weak interlayers, are prone to slide under rainfall conditions. To investigate the effect of inclined weak interlayers at various levels of depth below the surface on the variation of displacements and stresses in bedded rock slopes, four geo-mechanical model tests with artificial rainfall have been conducted. Displacements, water content as well as earth pressure in the model were monitored by means of various FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) sensors. The results showed that the amount of displacement of a slope with a weak interlayer is 2.8 to 6.2 times larger than that of a slope without a weak interlayer during one rainfall event. Furthermore, the position of the weak interlayer in terms of depth below the surface has a significant effect on the zone of deformation in the model. In the slope with a high position weak interlayer, the recorded deformation was larger in the superficial layer of the model and smaller in the frontal portion than in the slope with a low position weak interlayer. The slope with two weak interlayers has the largest deformation at all locations of all test slopes. The slope without a weak interlayer was only saturated in its superficial layer, while the displacement decreased with depth. That was different from all slopes with a weak interlayer in which the largest displacement shifted from the superficial layer to the weak interlayer when rainfall persisted. Plastic deformation of the weak interlayer promoted the formation of cracks which caused more water to flow into the slope, thus causing larger deformation in the slope with weak interlayers. In addition, the slide thrust pressure showed a vibration phenomenon 0.5 to 1 hour ahead of an abrupt increase of the deformation, which was interpreted as a predictor for rainfall-induced failure of bedded rock slopes.     

Grain size distribution of soils within the Cordillera Blanca,Peru: An indicator of basic mechanical properties for slope stability evaluation

This paper presents results of a study on the mechanical properties of sandy and gravely soils within the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. The soils were divided into groups according to their origin （glacial, fluvial, or debris flow）. The grain size distribution of forty three soil samples was used to classify the soils according to the scheme of the Unified Soil Classification System （USCS）. These distributions have then been used to estimate shear strength and hydraulic properties of the soils. There are clear differences between the soils which reflect their divergent origins. The glacial soils normally fit within one of two distinctive groups according to the proportion of fines （Group A, 7%-21.5%; Group B, 21%-65%）. The estimation of shear strength at constant volume friction angle and peak shear strength of the glacial sediments with low content of fines was made using published data relating to the measured shear strength characteristics of soils with similar origins and grain size distributions. The estimated values were supported by measurements of the angle of repose taken from fourteen samples from two moraines and by shear tests on samples from one locality. The results of the grain size distribution werealso used to estimate the average hydraulic conductivity using the empirical Hazen formula which results were verified by field infiltration tests at two localities.     

冲击作用下饱和土性状的试验研究

在三轴条件下,对饱和土(砂土和黏土)进行排水与不排水条件下的冲击试验及冲击后再固结试验,对比研究了不同渗透性土在不同排水条件下的冲击动力响应和冲击后再固结性状.结果表明:饱和黏土不排水冲击时的孔隙水压力随冲击击数增加而升高并逐渐稳定,排水冲击时的孔隙水压力则是先达到峰值然后有所下降;砂土不排水冲击时的冲击能量对孔隙水压力影响最明显;饱和砂土不排水冲击时的轴向应变与冲击击数呈近似线性关系,饱和黏土冲击及饱和砂土排水冲击则呈近二次曲线关系;饱和砂土不排水冲击后再固结阶段的孔隙水压力立即消散为0,同时体变迅速增大到一定值;饱和黏土在冲击后再固结阶段的孔隙水压力在一定时间内逐渐消散完毕,同时体变逐渐增大;饱和黏土排水冲击时,冲击阶段产生的体变占冲击引起总体变的39%~49%,冲击后再固结阶段产生的体变占51%~61%;砂土和黏土的总体变均表现为排水冲击明显大于不排水冲击,改善冲击时的排水条件有利于提高加固效果.     

Stability characteristics of shallow landslide triggered by rainfall

Rainfall induced shallow landslides are known to be extremely dangerous since the sliding mass can propagate quickly and travel far from the source. Although the sliding mechanism in sloping ground is simple to understand, the problem may be complicated by unsaturated transient water flow. The flow behavior of rainwater in unsaturated sloping ground and the consequent factor of safety must be clearly understood to assess slope stability under rainfall conditions. A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to examine the critical hydrological states so that assessment of slope stability under rainfall condition can be performed. Based on the test results, a unique relationship between critical hydrological states, rainfall intensity, and soil properties was formulated. Sequential stability analysis provided insights into the stability of slopes subjected to variations in soil properties, slope angles and rainfall intensities, and the consequent variation in the depth of the failure plane, vital in landslide risk assessment, was determined through this analysis.The variation of rainfall intensity was found to strongly affect the depth of the failure plane in cohesionless sloping ground. Furthermore, the influence of rainfall intensity on the depth of the failure plane may be alleviated by a small magnitude of cohesive strength. The results of this study will reinforce knowledge of landslide behavior and help to improve mitigation measures in susceptible areas.     

水泥固化剂提高风积沙承载性能试验

沙漠风积沙稳定性差,采用水泥作为固化剂进行风积沙固化,是改善风积沙性质和实现风积沙资源化利用的有效手段。以取自内蒙古库布齐沙漠的风积沙为材料,制备3%含水量的重塑风积沙,掺入水泥固化剂并充分拌匀而形成固化风积沙,开展水泥固化风积沙的抗剪、抗压和抗拔承载性能试验。结果表明,水泥掺量对固化风积沙黏聚强度的提高程度要大于内摩擦角。含水量3%的风积沙掺入6%的水泥经28 d常温养护的固化风积沙无侧限抗压强度平均值为0.156 MPa。固化风积沙扩展基础抗拔荷载-位移曲线呈现初始弹性段至峰值荷载以及峰值荷载后破坏的两阶段脆性破坏特征。水泥固化提高风积沙抗拔承载性能效果显著,且与基础底板尺寸、抗拔埋深及基础深宽比等因素有关。     

Development and application of an instrument for simulating wetting-drying cycles of expansive soils under loads

Alternating rainfall and evaporation in nature severely impact the shear strength of expansive soils. This study presents an instrument for simulating the effect of wetting–drying cycles on the strength of expansive soils under different loads, and its testing error is verified. With this instrument,direct shear tests were performed on samples experiencing 0-6 cycles under vertical loads of 0 kPa,5 kPa, 15 kPa, and 30 k Pa. The results found that this instrument provides a new method for evaluating the effects of wetting–drying cycles on soils, and this method represents actual engineering conditions more accurately than do preexisting methods. It accurately controls the water content within 1% while simulating the specified loads at different soil depths.Cohesion is significantly affected by wetting–drying cycles, while the friction angle is not as sensitive to these cycles. Decrease in shear strength can be attributed to the fissures in soils caused by wetting–drying cycles. The existence of vertical loads effectively restricts shrinkage fissuring and cohesion attenuation, consequently inhibiting the attenuation of shear strength.     

Characteristics of grain size distribution and the shear strength analysis of Chenjiaba long runout coseismic landslide

Study on the grain size distribution characteristics and the frictional strength behavior of the slide deposits are helpful to disclose the landslide runout process and understand the mechanism of a long runout landslide. We performed grain size distribution analysis on samples collected from Chenjiaba landslide induced by Wenchuan earthquake. The grain size distribution of samples from the landslide sections quantitatively depicts a gradual coarsening upward grading from shear zone to the top section. Then a multistage-multiphase ring shearing approach was used to determine a comparative shear strength behavior of samples from each landslide section. In this method, a sample was sheared continuously for large displacement and fast rate on different normal stress conditions. The multiphase shear mode with a maximum of 105 mm/min rate has allowed observing the qualitative change and patterns of the frictional resistance behaviors of soils under different normal stresses. The results of coefficient of friction values under multiphase shear mode have shown substantial post peak shear weakening behaviors after large shear displacement that can be narrated with long runout processes. The shear strength test results indicate that the shear zone samples have developed higher friction angle values compared to overlying section samples, on the last phase of shear process, which may be very important to understand the braking mechanism of a long runout landslide.     

Particle breakage and the mobilized drained shear strengths of sand

This paper presents particle breakage and the mobilized drained shear strengths of sand with the purpose of clarifying the influence of particle breakage on the mobilized shear strengths of sand. Several drained triaxial tests were carried out on Silica sand No.5 under 3 MPa confining pressure to produce the pre-crushed sands in simulating the high-pressure shear process on soil to result in particle breakage, and then the pre-crushed sands were re-sheared in series of drained triaxial tests to investigate the mobilized strengths of the pre-crushed sands in detecting the influence of particle breakage. It was found that, by deteriorating strain-stress behavior, particle breakage resulted in change of stress-dilatancy behavior in translation and rotation of the relation of the dilatancy factor and the effective principal stress ratio. For a given initial void ratio, particle breakage resulted in impairment of dilatancy behavior of soil to be more contractive in deterioration of the mobilized friction angle and the mobilized dilatancy angle and reduction of void ratio. However, particle breakage resulted in increase of the mobilized basic friction angle especially before failure. In addition, the influence of particle breakage on the mobilized strengths was revealed to be influenced by the shear stress-strain state.     

不同含油、含水饱和度致密砂岩真三轴力学特征

致密砂岩储层中水、石油或天然气等流体赋存可能会对致密砂岩的力学特征产生影响。选取鄂尔多斯盆地蟠龙地区延长组致密砂岩,利用YSZS-2000型多功能电液伺服岩石真三轴试验机对不同含油和含水饱和度致密砂岩力学特征进行了研究。结果表明:①含油性对砂岩的峰值应力和弹性模量产生弱化作用,表现为峰值应力和弹性模量随着含油饱和度的增大而减小,“准饱和”时峰值应力可下降5.35%,弹性模量可下降11.38%;②含水砂岩根据其吸水特性曲线分为Pa型与Pb型,含水性对砂岩的峰值应力产生弱化作用,饱和时Pa型砂岩峰值应力可下降11.58%,Pb型砂岩峰值应力可下降15.95%;③观察实验后浸油砂岩内部结构发现,油集中分布于砂岩矿物间裂隙,对破裂面产生润滑作用从而降低了砂岩的承载力。本研究成果可以对致密油气的开发提供可靠依据。      

模拟堆载作用的黄土边坡土体变形机理试验

通过固结不排水剪试验,研究了堆载作用下不同深度、含水量和围压的原状黄土的变形和破坏特征,并从黄土的微观结构角度分析了产生这一现象的原因,结合黄土边坡特殊的工程地质条件,分析了堆载作用下黄土边坡土体的变形破坏过程。试验结果表明,不同深度、含水量和围压的原状黄土的应力应变曲线和抗剪强度具有不同的特征;特殊的工程地质条件,使黄土坡体的某些部位形成了堆载作用下不利于黄土材料强度保持的含水量和围压的组合,导致了这些部位黄土的变形破坏,进而诱发坡体的变形破坏。     

泾河下游黄土台塬区侵蚀诱发滑坡机理

泾河下游黄土台塬区侵蚀诱发的黄土滑坡不仅威胁当地居民的生命财产安全,而且引发严重的水土流失及文物损毁等问题。以该类黄土滑坡为研究对象,在详细地质调查的基础上,取唐家村L2滑坡坡脚原状黄土进行减围压三轴剪切(RTC)试验,研究了饱和黄土的应力、孔压、围压特征以及剪切速率对土体力学行为的影响。结果表明,RTC应力路径下围压率达到0.55时,土体会因偏应力增大而引起塑性剪切破坏;同时,该应力路径下的饱和黄土内摩擦角很小,仅为10.7°;RTC应力路径下的破坏面,十分接近K 0状态面,说明天然斜坡坡脚饱和黄土在小幅水平应力降低条件下易于发生破坏,从而诱发滑坡失稳。     

Mechanical property of calcareous sand under action of compaction

Calcareous sand is a kind of special medium which is composed of calcium carbonate and other difficult soluble carbonate substances. Because of its rich in inner pore space and easy crashed,the mechanical property is very different from conventional quartz sand. Based on the compaction test and direct shear test of calcareous sand,by means of data fitting,the coupling relationship between compaction density and mechanical property under different water contents was obtained; meanwhile,the shear strength expression was built on the basis of the relationship between water content and dry density.     

Discrete numerical modeling of granular materials considering crushability

The aim of this study is to numerically investigate the influence of particle breakage on the mechanical behavior of granular materials using a discrete element method (DEM). To enable particle crushing, non-crushable elementary particles are boned together to represents the granular aggregates which can be crushed when the external force exceeds its strength. The flaw of the aggregate was also modeled by randomly distributed void. Single particle crushing tests were carried out to determine the distribution of particle strength. The results of single particle crushing tests illustrate that the simulated single particle fracture strength and pattern agree well with the Weibull’s distribution equation. Conventional oedometer tests, drained monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were also carried out to investigate the crushing of the aggregates and the associated mechanical behaviors. The effect of confining pressure on the crushing of aggregates and the mechanical behavior was also analyzed. It was found that the peak stress and dilation decrease significantly when particle crushing was considered. The deformation behavior of the specimen is essentially controlled by two factors: particle rearrangement - induced dilation and particle crushing - induced contraction. The increase of permanent strain and the reduction of dilation were observed during cyclic loading and they tend to reach a stable state after a certain number of cycles. The crushing of aggregate is most significant in the first two cycles. The results also indicated that for the same axial strain the volumetric strain and the bound breakage in the cyclic loading tests are significantly larger than that in the monotonic loading tests, especially at high cyclic stress ratio.