Experimental Study on the Water Sensitivities of Compacted Red Clay in Guangxi, China

This paper investigates the consolidation and shear strength of compacted red clay samples (before and after inundation) in Guangxi, China through laboratory tests. The unconfined shear strength of both undisturbed and remolded specimens in the process of reducing or adding water content was also studied. The studies show that, in moisture-density curves, the maximum dry density of the remolded specimen is greater than that of the undisturbed specimen. However, the optimum water content of the former is smaller than that of the latter. When the compacted specimens are subjected to a vertical load, the vertical deformation reaches steady state in a short time with a small value. After inundation, the increment of the vertical deformation is also very small. However, the unconfined shear strength of the red clay specimens with slightly higher water content is much better than that of those with lower water content. The test results also show that the dehydration or humidity absorption has significant effect on the shear strength of red clay, especially for the remolded specimen.