Subsurface multi-physical characterization of mountain excavation and city construction in loess plateau with a fiber-optic sensing system

Mountain excavation and city construction(MECC)projects being launched in the Loess Plateau in China involve the creation of large-scale artificial land.Understanding the subsurface evolution characteristics of the artificial land is essential,yet challenging.Here,we use an improved fiber-optic monitoring system for its subsurface multi-physical characterization.The system enables us to gather spatiotemporal distribution of various parameters,including strata deformation,temperature,and moisture.Yan’an New District was selected as a case study to conduct refined in-situ monitoring through a 77 m-deep borehole and a 30 m-long trench.Findings reveal that the ground settlement involves both the deformation of the filling loess and the underlying intact loess.Notably,the filling loess exhibits a stronger creep capability compared to underlying intact loess.The deformation along the profile is unevenly distributed,with a positive correlation with soil moisture.Water accumulation has been observed at the interface between the filling loess and the underlying intact loess,leading to a significant deformation.Moreover,the temperature and moisture in the filling loess have reached a new equilibrium state,with their depths influenced by atmospheric conditions measuring at 31 m and 26 m,respectively.The refined investigation allows us to identify critical layers that matter the sustainable development of newly created urban areas,and provide improved insights into the evolution mechanisms of land creation.

Experimental study on the dynamic modulus of compacted loess under bidirectional dynamic load

The dynamic characteristics of compacted loess are of great significance to the seismic construction of the Loess Plateau area in Northwest China,where earthquakes frequently occur.To study the change in the dynamic modulus of the foundation soil under the combined action of vertical and horizontal earthquakes,a hollow cy-lindrical torsion shear instrument capable of vibrating in four directions was used to perform two-way coupling of compression and torsion of Xi'an compacted loess under different dry density and deviator stress ratios.The results show that increasing the dry density can improve the initial dynamic compression modulus and initial dynamic shear modulus of compacted loess.With an increase in the deviator stress ratio,the initial dynamic compression modulus increases,to a certain extent,but the initial dynamic shear modulus decreases slightly.The dynamic modulus gradually decreases with the development of dynamic strain and tends to be stable,and the dynamic modulus that reaches the same strain increases with an increasing dry density.At the initial stage of dynamic loading,the attenuation of the dynamic shear modulus with the strain development is faster than that of the dynamic compression modulus.Compared with previous research results,it is determined that the dynamic modulus of loess under bidirectional dynamic loading is lower and the attenuation rate is faster than that under single-direction dynamic loading.The deviator stress ratio has a more obvious effect on the dynamic compression modulus.The increase in the deviator stress ratio can increase the dynamic compression modulus,to a certain extent.However,the deviator stress ratio has almost no effect on the dynamic shear modulus,and can therefore be ignored.