The critical states of saturated loess soils

This paper presents an experimental investigation on eleven loess soils retrieved from NW China to explore the influence of grading and age on soil mechanics. There are overall consistent characteristics in stress-strain relationship and stress paths for the loess tested though detailed property depends on the combination of nu(i) and p(0)('). The critical state parameters are quantitatively analyzed against the soil properties. The critic state line (CSL) in p(')-q plane is less variable. The M value of specimens tested varies from 1.15 to 1.41 and the corresponding phi(')(cs) is between 28.8 degrees and 34.8 degrees, which is not clearly related to the loess grading and plasticity index. In the volumetric plane, the intercept Gamma of CSLs varies from 1.63 to 2.17 and the gradient lambda of loess fall within a narrow range of lambda= 0.08 +/- 0.03. The lambda linearly increases with the increasing plasticity index I-p. The intercept Gamma and gradient lambda against grading indices has an overall liner trend, i.e., decrease with the increase of D-50 and increase with the increasing C-u and C-c values. The intact loess usually has a higher I-B value, roughly between 0.5 and 0.9, indicating a relatively high liquefaction potential.

Automated summary

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the influence of grading and age on soil mechanics using eleven loess soils retrieved from NW China. The results show consistent stress-strain relationship and stress paths for the tested loess, and quantitatively analyze the critical state parameters against the soil properties.