The erosion of cohesive soils is regarded as one of the major threats to the failure of earth structures. The current evaluation of clay erodibility is primarily based on empirical correlations with other physical and mechanical soil properties, which lack a fundamental understanding of multiscale resistance formation under complicated environmental conditions. In this study, the hole erosion test (HET) was conducted using our augmented testing system, which includes sample preparation equipment and a temperature control unit. The kaolinite specimen is prepared following the saturated preconsolidation approach under defined stresses, which significantly improves the test repeatability. In total, 33 specimens are prepared and tested using the enhanced HET system under varying preconsolidation pressures, temperatures, and fines contents with triplicates for each case. The erosion resistance of clay increases with the preconsolidation pressure, and macropores are destructed into micropores, as revealed by the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test and the specific surface area analyzer. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicate an anisotropic aggregate structure prepared using the preconsolidation approach, which possesses different erodibility indices in different flow directions. With the increase in temperature from 10 degrees C to 40 degrees C, the critical shear stress decreases from 292 to 131 Pa (or by 55.1%). The addition of quartz sands in the kaolinite clay undermines the soil erosion resistance.

An experimental study was carried out to understand the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of marine clay reconstituted with different pore fluids. Three different pore fluids namely distilled water, 0.4 M NaCl and 1.0 M NaCl solutions, and 0.4 M CaCl2 solution were used in this study. The specimens were prepared using a 1D slurry consolidation technique at 50 kPa vertical pressure. This paper mainly includes the microstructural studies conducted using Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images and Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests. Furthermore, cyclic triaxial and resonant column tests were carried out on the marine clay specimens reconstituted with 0.4 M NaCl and 0.4 M CaCl2 solutions subjected to different confining pressures. The experimental results illustrated that with an increase in concentration of pore fluid the cyclic properties of reconstituted Chennai marine clay increases for strain amplitude varying between 0.001 and 1%.

To satisfy the economic requirements and reduce the impact to the surrounding buildings and underground structures, the dynamic compaction (heavy tamping) and static compaction are combined used in the soil filling for airport subgrade. Despite compaction the subgrades in the same degree of compaction, the subgrades filled by dynamic and static compaction method show different increase potential in the permanent strain under cyclic loading, which then further result in the differential settlement and safety problems. This study firstly investigated the compaction characteristics under static compaction and different dynamic compaction scheme, during which the static and dynamic compaction strain and stress evolutions were monitored. The cyclic triaxial tests were then performed to investigate the sample preparation method derived difference in permanent strain under cyclic loading. Furthermore, to provide a microscopic interpretation to this difference, the pore size distributions of the silt samples based on mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test and the internal particle contact stresses from discrete element method (DEM) simulation were respectively explored. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The dynamic compaction processes can be divided into rapid and slow compaction strain stages determined by strain growth rate and compaction numbers, which further influences the homogeneity of soil samples; (2) The statically compacted samples have more significant permanent strain than the dynamic ones due to the localized stress concentration and different pore microstructures; the permanent strain increases with dynamic compaction energy until a stable stage is reached. (3) The MIP results show that the dynamic compaction transforms the macropores into mesopores; the higher compaction energy enhances this transforming effect but results in a decrease in the overall homogeneity.

Soil improvement via cement-based stabilizers is often necessary to improve the workability and strength of problematic soils. However, understanding the underlying mechanisms of the stabilization process merits further study, particularly concerning changes in the microscale structure that affect macroscale behavior. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are often paired to characterize the microstructure and pore networks and can be used to quantitatively describe pore structure and surface complexity. Fractal geometry (e.g., fractal dimension and lacunarity) has been shown to provide a quantitative description of structural complexity in nature. Therefore, these fractal geometry fundamentals (fractal dimension and lacunarity) were implemented in the analysis of SEM micrographs and MIP results of a single-mineral kaolinitic soil (SA-1 kaolinite) stabilized with a portland cement stabilizer (portland cement Type I/II) to better understand the evolution of the soil microstructure with curing time. Particle size distributions (PSD) were developed based on image analysis of SEM micrographs collected at curing times of 1, 7, 14, 28, and 90 days. The surface fractal dimension obtained via analysis of MIP results was used to describe changes occurring in the pore network with curing time. The formation of cementitious products was inferred from changes in the PSD as gels first formed and then fused with clay surfaces. Box-counting fractal dimensions and lacunarity showed evidence of particle restructuring with cementation. The transition pore size between intraaggregate and interaggregate pores, obtained via fractal analysis of MIP data, decreased with curing time, indicating the formation of hydration products with stabilization. Using fractal geometry to help analyze the microstructural properties of stabilized clays may lead to better insight into their engineering scale behavior. Problematic soils pose an expensive problem to engineers and are often treated with cement-based stabilizers to improve strength and decrease compressibility or the potential to deform or collapse. However, the underlying mechanism causing problematic behavior, such as low strength or shrinking and swelling, is not well understood and techniques to characterize these soils at the microscopic level are needed to better prevent the damage posed to infrastructure. The current standard of practice utilizes only qualitative measurements of the soil structure and cannot be used in models attempting to predict clay behavior. Therefore, concepts from fractal geometry were used in this study to provide a quantitative, measured value of the soil and pore surface which can be used in future models. Analysis of images at the microscale provided a quantitative measurement of the change in soil structure as stabilization reactions occurred. Moreover, the geometric parameters obtained showed strong correlations with strength values, indicating the utility of the technique for predicting engineering behavior. The results of this study show promise for adapting the box-counting procedure to other, more complex soils. Additionally, because there was a good correlation between the fractal parameters and strength, the results should be correlated with other soil parameters.