Journal
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
Volume 206, Issue -, Pages 60-70Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.enggeo.2016.04.005
Keywords
Micro-penetrometer; Penetration resistance; Wetting-drying cycle; Strength profile; Water content; Microstructure
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China for Excellent Young Scholars [41322019]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41572246]
- Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China [41230636]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [020614380013]
- European Commission [FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES-612665]
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A good understanding of the soil strength profile under wetting-drying (W-D) cycles is essential when studying the hydro-mechanical response of soils under the effects of precipitation and evaporation. In this investigation, initially saturated slurry specimens were prepared and subjected to three W-D cycles. A micro-penetrometer was used to characterize the effect of W-D cycles on soil mechanical behavior. Based on the obtained penetration curves (penetration resistance versus depth), the temporal-spatial evolution of soil strength under each drying path was analyzed and discussed. The results show that the developed Micro-penetrometer is a simple, quick, economical and reliable tool for identification of soil strength profile. Upon drying, as the water content is relatively high, the strength of soil is low and uniform along the depth. The influence of evaporation is insignificant in the initial stage of drying even though a large amount of water is lost. After a low critical water content is reached, the strength of the upper soil layer increases rapidly, and the overall strength generally increases exponentially with decreasing water content while decreases exponentially with increasing depth. The drying induced strength exhibits obvious delayed effect in profile. With increasing W-D cycles, the strength tends to decrease. The penetration curves change from typical mono-peak pattern to multi-peak pattern after the third W-D cycle, suggesting that the W-D cycles create more defects in soil microstructure and intensify the heterogeneity of strength in profile. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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