Effects of soil shrinkage in permanent gullies formation: The case of Benggang erosion in the granite area of southern China

Soil shrinkage is an important factor in slope destabilization in granitic areas, which is also one of the most important conditions for the formation of permanent gullies. This study explored the effect of soil shrinkage on permanent gullies, and Benggang erosion in granitic areas in southeastern China was used as an example. Three types of Benggang in granitic area were selected to examine the soil shrinkage of three soil layers(the lateritic, transitional and sandy layers) and their effect on the development of Benggang erosion was studied. The results show that the maximum values of COLEH and COLEV(coefficient of linear extensibility in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively) are 3.09% and 1.60% in the laterite layers, 2.71% and 2.13% in transition layers, and 1.10% and 1.82% in sandy layers, indicating that the shrinkage potential of the soil layers exhibits the following order, from highest to lowest: the laterite layer, transition layer, and sandy layer. With a decreasing volumetric water content, the linear shrinkage ratio increases gradually and eventually stabilizes, and in the laterite, transition and sandy layers, the average values of the maximum linear shrinkage are 1.50%, 2.09%, and 1.74%, respectively. Axial shrinkage is most obvious in the transition layers, in which the volume change in the form of subsidence is greater than that in other layers. The soil shrinkage curves fit the trilinear model(R2>0.9), and the soil shrinkage characteristic curves were divided into structural, basic, and residual sections. The correlation analysis shows that the soil shrinkage rate is positively correlated with clay and Fe2 O3 content and negatively correlated with sand content. Clay and sand contents are the most important factors influencing soil shrinkage. Soil oxides can influence soil shrinkage by affecting the particle composition of the soil, so soil shrinkage is closely related to soil clay minerals. Our findings can provide a theoretical basis for revealing the mechanism of Benggang erosion and its control.

Numerical analysis of crack generation within embankment built on expansive soil foundation

In order to analyze the initial cracking behavior of highway embankment in the regions of expansive soil, the changes in peaks of tensile stress and their location on top of the embankment for a typical highway embankment section were simulated by ABAQUS. The simulation results indicate that the matric suction was a concave distribution on top of the expansive soil foundation and that it induced differential deformation of foundation and embankment. The peaks of tensile stress on top of the embankment are not located at a fixed site, but gradually move towards the shoulder following the evaporation duration. When the evaporation intensity is larger, the peak of tensile stress on top of embankment increases at a faster rate following the evaporation duration,and its location is closer to the shoulder. The thicker expansive soil layer helps the peaks of tensile stress to reach the critical tensile stress quickly, but the embankment cannot crack when the expansive soil layer is no more than 1.5m after 30d soil surface evaporation; the higher the embankment, the smaller the peak of tensile stress occurring on top of the highway embankment, and its location will be further away from the shoulder. Therefore, a higher embankment constructed on a thinner expansive soil layer can reduce the crack generation within the highway embankment.

Effect of drying environment on engineering properties of an expansive soil and its microstructure

This paper investigates the effect of drying environment, i.e. temperature and relative humidity, on the engineering properties and microscopic pore size distribution of an expansive soil. The shrinkage tests under different drying temperatures and relative humidity are carried out in a constant climate chamber. Then, the undisturbed samples, prepared in different drying environment, are used for the triaxial tests and mercury intrusion tests. It is found that the drying environment has noticeable influence on the engineering properties of expansive soils and it can be characterized by the drying rate. The linear shrinkage and strength increase with the decrease of the drying rate. The non-uniform deformation tends to happen in the high drying rate, which subsequently furthers the development of cracks. In addition, during the drying process, the variation of pores mainly focuses on the inter-aggregate pores and inter-particle pores. The lower drying rate leads to larger variation of pore size distribution.

Effect of adding natural pozzolana on geotechnical properties of lime-stabilized clayey soil

Clayey soils in Syria cover a total area of more than 20,000 km2 of the country, most of which are located in the southwestern region. In many places of the country, the clayey soils caused severe damage to infrastructures. Extensive studies have been carried out on the stabilization of clayey soils using lime. Syria is rich in both lime and natural pozzolana. However, few works have been conducted to investigate the influence of adding natural pozzolana on the geotechnical properties of lime-treated clayey soils. The aim of this paper is to understand the effect of adding natural pozzolana on some geotechnical properties of lime-stabilized clayey soils. Natural pozzolana and lime are added to soil within the range of 0%–20% and 0%–8%, respectively. Consistency, compaction, California bearing ratio （CBR） and linear shrinkage properties are particularly investigated. The test results show that the investigated properties of lime-treated clayey soils can be considerably enhanced when the natural pozzolana is added as a stabilizing agent. Analysis results of scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDX） show significant changes in the microstructure of the treated clayey soil. A better flocculation of clayey particles and further formation of cementing materials in the natural pozzolana-lime-treated clayey soil are clearly observed.

Shrinkage Characteristics of Lime Concretion Black Soil as Affected by Biochar Amendment

Studies have reported that biochar is a sustainable amendment that improves the chemical and physical properties of soil.In this study,an incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different application rates of biochar on the cracking pattern and shrinkage characteristics of lime concretion black soil after three wetting and drying cycles.Biochar derived from the corn straw and peanut shell mixture was applied to the soil at rates of 0,50,100,and 150 g kg^(-1)dry weight,representing the treatments T_(0),T_(50),T_(100),and T_(150),respectively.During the wetting and drying cycles,the cracking pattern and shrinkage characteristics of the unamended and amended soil samples were recorded.Application of biochar significantly increased soil organic carbon content in the samples.During soil desiccation,biochar significantly reduced the rate of water loss.Cracks propagated slowly and stopped due to the relatively higher water content in the soil applied with biochar.The cracking area density(ρ_c),equivalent width,fractal dimension,and cracking connectivity index decreased during the drying process with increasing application rate of biochar.Theρ_(c )value of the T_(50),T_(100),and T_(150) treatments decreased by 33.6%,52.1%,and 56.9%,respectively,after three wetting and drying cycles,whereas the T_(0) treatment exhibited a marginal change.The coefficient of linear extensibility,an index used to describe onedimentional shrinkage,of the unamended soil sample(T_(0))was approximately 0.23.Application of 100 and 150 g kg^(-1)biochar to the soil significantly reduced the shrinkage capacity by 41.45%and 45.54%,respectively.The slope of the shrinkage characteristics curve,which indicates the ralationship between soil void ratio and moisture ratio,decreased with increase in the application rate of biochar.Furthermore,compared with the T_(0) treatment,the proportional shrinkage zone of the shrinkage characteristic curve of the T_(50),T_(100),and T_(150) treatments decreased by 5.8%,13.1%,and 12.1%,respectively.Differences were not observed in the moisture ratio at the maximum curvature of the shrinkage characteristic curve among the treatments.The results indicate that biochar can alter the cracking pattern and shrinkage characteristics of lime concretion black soil.However,the effects of biochar on the shrinkage of lime concretion black soil are dependent on the number of wetting and drying cycles.

Influence of Organic Matter Content on Hydro-Structural Properties of Constructed Technosols

Constructed Technosols may be an alternative for creating urban green spaces. However, the hydro-structural properties emer- ging from the assembly of artefacts have never been documented. The soil shrinkage curve （SSC） could provide relevant structural information about constructed Technosols, such as the water holding capacity of each pore system （macropores and micropores）. The objectives of this study were （i） to evaluate the SSC and water retention curve （WRC） to describe the structure of constructed Tech- nosols and （ii） to understand the influence of organic matter content on soil hydro-structural properties. In this study, Technosols were obtained by mixing green waste compost （GWC） with the material excavated from deep horizons of soil （EDH）. The CWC was mixed with EDH in six different volumetric percentages from 0% to 50% （GWC/total）. The GWC and EDH exhibited highly divergent hydro-structural properties： the SSC was hyperbolic for GWC and sigmoid for EDH. All six mixture treatments （0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% GWC） exhibited the classical sigmoid shape, revealing two embedded levels of pore systems. The 20% GWC treatment was hydro-structurally similar to the 30% and 40% GWC treatments; so, a large quantity of expansive GWC is unnecessary. The relation with the GWC percentage was a second-degree equation for volumetric available water in micropores, but was linear for volumetric available water in macropores and total volumetric available water. Total volumetric available water in the 50% GWC treatment was twice as high as that in the 0% GWC treatment. By combining SSCs and WRCs, increasing the GWC percentage increased water holding capacity by decreasing the maximum equivalent size of water-saturated micropores at the shrinkage limit and increasing the maximum equivalent size of water-saturated macropores, resulting in an increased range of pore diameter able to retain available water.