Hydromechanical Analysis of Collapse Settlement of Loess during Field Immersion Tests: Field Investigations and Numerical Modeling
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 10
Abstract
Loess is the most well-known collapsible soil. The field immersion test is one of the effective means to assess the in situ self-weight collapsibility of soil. However, the reason why huge differences appeared in collapse settlements in different regions remains unclear, and which factors largely determine the amount of collapse deformation of loess during field immersion tests are worthy of being discussed. In this study, a numerical model for hydromechanical (HM) behaviors of loess was developed, in which the effects of the porosity on the water retention behavior and intrinsic permeability were incorporated. A field immersion test associated with the monitored collapse settlement, water retention curve measurements, and the variation of self-weight collapsibility with depth were used to testify to the effectiveness of the numerical model. The model was then adopted to clarify the effects of compression index, initial suction, and yield stress on the coupled HM or collapse settlement behavior of loess in field immersion tests. The aforementioned three parameters are relatively easy to be determined from various sites and have obvious differences. Then, a total of 126 numerical cases were conducted by the HM model, with the range of the collapse settlement from 0.334 m to 1.136, which covers the most range of the collapse settlement of the field immersion test systematically summarized by previous researchers. The result shows that yield stress and compression index have a significant influence on collapse settlement. The initial suction has a slight influence on collapse settlement, which mainly affects the velocity of water transport. The model herein can be used in the assessment of the in situ collapsibility of loess, and when the basic physical properties of a site are determined, the numerical simulation database of this study can preliminarily determine the site's collapsibility grade and amount of the collapsibility.
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Data Availability Statement
The data sets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Project No. 2023YFC3008403) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers: 42372307 and 41772316). The authors thank Dong-dong Yan, Ke Liu, Zi-jing Han, Luo-wen Li, and Meng-yao Sun of Xi’an Jiaotong University for their contributions to this project.
Author contributions: Tian-Gang Lan: Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing—original draft; Ling Xu: Conceptualization, Resource, Supervision, Writing—review and editing; Shi-Feng Lu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Visualization, Writing—review and editing; Wen-qing Zhu: Investigation; and Heng-jie Liu: Investigation.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- b
- dimensionless smoothing parameter;
- C
- Specific moisture capacity;
- D
- Gravitational potential;
- e
- void ratio;
- G
- shear modulus;
- g
- gravitational acceleration;
- Hp
- soil water potential;
- h0
- initial height of the sample;
- stabilized heights before inundation under self-weight stress;
- K
- hydraulic conductivity;
- k0
- initial intrinsic permeability at reference porosity;
- kc
- factor controlling the increase of strength with matrix suction;
- M
- slope of the critical state line;
- np0
- initial porosity;
- np
- current porosity;
- p
- mean total stress;
- mean net stress ( = p–ua);
- patm
- atmospheric pressure;
- pref
- reference pressure;
- p0(s)
- yield stress of positive suction;
- S
- storage coefficient of the soil;
- Se
- degree of saturation;
- s
- suction (s = ua–uw);
- s0
- yield suction during the shrink;
- sy
- yield value at current suction;
- ua
- pore air pressure;
- uw
- pore-water pressure;
- βe
- model parameter;
- κ
- swelling index;
- κs
- swelling index for changes in suction;
- λs
- virgin compression index for change in suction;
- λ(0)
- compression index at saturated conditions;
- λ(s)
- compression index corresponding to suction s;
- λ0, β, and r
- parameters in BBM;
- μ
- kinematic viscosity of water;
- ρw
- water density;
- σ
- total stress tensor;
- v
- specific volume (v = 1 + e);
- ρ
- equivalent density of the loess matrix; and
- ϕ, φ, n1, m1
- parameters for the Gallipoli model.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 10 • October 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 13, 2023
Accepted: Mar 27, 2024
Published online: Jul 19, 2024
Published in print: Oct 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Dec 19, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Bodies of water (by type)
- Coasts, oceans, ports, and waterways engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Field tests
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Hydromechanics
- Loess
- Models (by type)
- Numerical analysis
- Numerical models
- River engineering
- Sediment
- Soil analysis
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil settlement
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Tests (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Waterways
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