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The Mechanics of a Saturated Silty Loess and Implications for Landslides

Coop, MR; Xu, L; Zhang, M; Wang, G; (2018) The Mechanics of a Saturated Silty Loess and Implications for Landslides. Engineering Geology , 236 pp. 29-42. 10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.02.021. Green open access

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Abstract

The results from an intensive experimental investigation on a loess that was retrieved from a typical silty loess zone in the north-western Chinese Loess Plateau are presented and interpreted. Triaxial and oedometer tests were performed on intact and reconstituted samples in a saturated condition. The soil behavior was found to be strongly affected by structure. The compression paths of the intact samples crossed the intrinsic compression line of the reconstituted soil and reached well-defined gross yield points, after which the compression paths converged towards the intrinsic compression lines. Two critical state lines were defined for the intact and reconstituted soils in the volumetric plane as a result of a robust element of natural structure. Comparisons were made with a structured clayey loess retrieved from the south-eastern Loess Plateau. It was found that the effects of structure on the behavior of the two loess soils are similar though they are very different in natural properties. This indicates that their natural structures might have experienced similar forming processes, perhaps related to their common origin. Catastrophic flowslides commonly occur in the study area, and the patterns of behavior observed in the laboratory tests may create some new insights into mechanisms of landslide initiation and subsequent movement as discussed in the study.

Type: Article
Title: The Mechanics of a Saturated Silty Loess and Implications for Landslides
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.02.021
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.02.021
Language: English
Additional information: © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-derivative 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and non-commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated. Further details about CC BY licenses are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. Access may be initially restricted by the publisher.
Keywords: Loess; Structure/fabric; Laboratory tests; Landslides
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1543084
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