The distinct particle breakage characteristics of calcareous sand can induce extra settlement in calcareous sand foundations, posing a significant challenge to the safety of island and reef engineering. To explore the particle breakage, settlement characteristics and internal stress variations of calcareous sand foundations, the laboratory loading tests for calcareous sand foundations with different particle gradations were conducted. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technology and tactile pressure sensor systems were also utilized. The study reveals that the tested calcareous sand foundations have differential settlements subjected to external loading, which has a strong relationship with the particle breakage. It is found that the nonuniform internal stresses between the sand particles can induce different degrees of the particle breakage, which in turn changes internal stresses and redistribution of particle positions in calcareous sands, and further causes the uneven settlement of the foundation. The degree of uneven settlement in calcareous sand foundations increases with an increase of external load and decreases with an increase of the coefficient of uniformity Cu for calcareous sands. During creep, the vertical and lateral stresses on the inter-particle contacts within the calcareous sand foundation exhibit an overall trend of decrease in weak forces and increase in strong forces. This continuous increase in strong forces results in a growth of creep deformation in calcareous sand foundation, while the degree of differential settlement in the foundation decreases with the progression of creep.

In order to accurately measure the internal stress-strain curve of plain concrete specimens and confined concrete specimens under compression, a new measurement method is proposed, which adopts conventional strain gauges to measure the internal strain data of the specimens, and the micro soil pressure box with ultra-large range is developed to measure the internal stress of the specimens. The uniaxial compression tests of 3 plain concrete specimens and 9 confined concrete specimens are completed, and the macroscopic failure process of the specimens and the stress-strain curves at different internal points are obtained. Combined with the experimental results, the accuracy of the calculation results of several classical confined concrete constitutive models is compared, and a modified constitutive model is proposed. Solid finite element analysis is used to analyze the stress-strain curves at different points inside the specimens, and the prediction accuracy of different constitutive models is compared. On this basis, nonlinear finite element analysis is used to verify the quasi-static test of RC columns, and the accuracy of different constitutive models in the nonlinear analysis at the component level is compared and analyzed. The results show that the measurement method proposed in this study can accurately measure the stress-strain data internal the concrete. The calculation results of the modified constitutive model proposed in this study are in the best agreement with the test results, and have a wide range of applications, which can be applied to the measurement of internal stress-strain curves of other different types of specimens.

In recent years, vegetation plays a key role in landslide stability under extreme rainfall in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, so it is very important to identify the mechanism of vegetation slope protection. This study takes wildcat landslide in Three Gorges Reservoir area as the research object, using indoor landslide model test and building monitoring systems such as stress field, displacement field, and soil erosion, to illustrate the protective effect of typical vegetation. Furthermore, Bermuda cover effectively reduces pore water pressure, pore soil pressure, displacement, and turbidity. In particular, the three stages of interception and buffering of rainfall by stems and leaves, infiltration and absorption of rainfall by the root system, and the reinforcement of the slope against sliding forces by the root system have been divided. Moreover, these findings offer valuable preliminary insights for guiding landslide mitigation strategies in the Three Gorges Reservoir area.