Weathered granite soil (WGS) is highly water-sensitive and widely distributed across southern China, where the region's rainy climate contributes to geological hazards such as collapsing erosion, landslides, and ground subsidence. This study aims to elucidate the impact of this rainy climate on the deterioration of WGS by investigating the suffosion characteristics of granite residual soil (GRS) and completely weathered granite (CWG) at various stages of weathering. The research explores how suffosion affects their mechanical properties and microstructural features. A series of suffosion tests were conducted under controlled water pressure, followed by one-dimensional consolidation tests, cyclic triaxial tests, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence analyses to analyze the deterioration mechanisms at both macro- and micro-scales. The results show that suffosion leads to the loss of fine particles and overall settlement of the soil samples. Microscopically, Mica is almost entirely lost, iron cementation is disrupted, and clay minerals, along with quartz and feldspar debris, are eroded, causing microstructural damage. The loss of minerals at the micro-scale exacerbates the formation of pores and cracks, increasing WGS porosity and promoting the progression of suffosion. On the macro-scale, suffosion alters the physical properties of WGS, with fine particle migration and loss leading to soil skeleton deformation, reduced stiffness, and decreased compressibility. Furthermore, a suffosion index is proposed, correlating microstructural changes with macroscopic mechanical parameters. This study has practical and theoretical significance for slope stability, collapsing erosion prevention, and surface subsidence mitigation in WGS in southern China.

The construction process of offshore wind farms in China is rapidly accelerating and seabed geological conditions vary significantly across different sea regions of China, which provides huge challenges for the construction of offshore wind farms. Foundation construction accounts for 30% of the total investment of offshore wind turbines (OWT), and ensuring the stability of pile-foundations is crucial for ensuring safe construction and normal safe operation of the OWT, which necessitates a comprehensive understanding of mechanical characteristics of seabed construction material under complex cyclic loadings. Therefore, this article focuses on studying the cyclic behavior of mucky clay (MC) and weathered granite residual soil (GRS) through serial cyclic triaxial tests. The stress-strain and stress path behaviors under various cyclic loads are analyzed for both types of submarine soils. Furthermore, the mechanical properties and load-bearing characteristics are thoroughly investigated by examining cumulative strain development, pore pressure behavior, and stiffness attenuation modes. More critical, a critical failure prediction model is established, for plotting the critical failure surface for both MC and weathered GRS, and the study reveals the cyclic failure modes of typical submarine soil under cyclic loading, which provides valuable insights for the design and construction of offshore wind farms.

The rock-based sea area has great prospect of development and construction of offshore wind farms (OWFs), and the mainstream construction sites of OWFs in China have shifted from the soil-based seabed to the rock-based seabed area. Previous studies about mechanical properties of seabed materials and bearing characteristics of pile foundation in OWF mainly focus on the submarine soil-based seabed, resulting in lack of direct reference for the construction of offshore wind power in the rock seabed. Therefore, the study concentrates on the investigation of failure criterion of submarine completely weathered granite (CWG) of offshore wind farms in rockbased sea area under cyclic loads. Firstly, dynamic triaxial tests are carried out, and two unique development modes of CWG are revealed under different cyclic loads. The experiments analyze insight stiffness attenuation law and establish the prediction model of stiffness attenuation based on the logarithm formula. More critical, a unique development law of damping ratio of submarine seabed materials is discovered and discussed, and two cyclic failure criteria based on cumulative strain and dissipated energy are put forward to divide the critical CSR under cyclic loads, which gives helpful reference for the construction of offshore wind farms in rock-based sea area.

In the context of global climate change, shallow landslides induced by strong typhoons and the ensuing rainstorms have increased significantly in China's eastern coastal areas. On 27 May 2022, more than 700 liquefied landslides were induced by the rain gush in Wuping County, Longyan City, Fujian Province, SE China. In light of their widespread occurrence and the severe damage caused, detailed field investigations, UAV surveys, trench observations, in situ tests, and numerical simulation are conducted in this work. The cascading landslides are classified as channelized landslides and hillslope landslides. Long-term rainfall, the influence of vegetation roots under wind load, and differences in the strength and structure of surficial soil are the dominant controlling factors. The sliding surface is localized to be the interface at a depth of 1-1.5 m between the fully weathered granite and the strongly weathered granite. Kinetic analysis of a channelized landslide shows that it is characterized by short runout, rapid velocity, and strong impact energy. The maximum velocity, impact energy, and impact force of the Laifu landslide are 29 m/s, 4221.35 J, and 2110 kPa. Effective excavation is usually impossible in this context. This work highlights the escalating issue of shallow landslides in eastern China's coastal areas, exacerbated by climate change and extreme weather events like typhoons. By conducting comprehensive investigations and analyses, the research identifies key factors influencing landslide occurrence, such as rainfall patterns and soil characteristics. Understanding the dynamics and impact of these landslides is vital for improving risk assessment, developing effective early warning systems, and informing land management policies in this region. Further exploration concerning hydro-meteorological hazard early warning should be encouraged in this region.

Studying the effects of weathering on the mechanical properties and microscopic evolution of weathered granite soil (WGS) is essential for connecting microstructure with macroscopic behavior. This study conducts systematic monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests, along with a series of microscopic tests on WGS samples, to explore the influence of weathering on WGS mechanical properties and the mechanism of granite weathering. Results indicate that both effective internal friction angle and effective cohesion decrease progressively with increased weathering. Completely weathered granite (CWG) exhibits greater dynamic strength compared to granite residual soil (GRS). Additionally, as weathering progresses, quartz fragments are lost, while feldspar and biotite weather to form secondary minerals such as kaolinite and illite, leading to an overall enrichment in aluminum and iron in the granite. Weathering causes structural deterioration of WGS. Finally, the mechanical parameters of WGS and their chemical weathering indices show a coefficient of determination ranging from 60 to 99%. This study helps elucidate the fundamental causes of performance changes in WGS, thereby optimizing engineering design and enhancing disaster prediction accuracy, while providing new research perspectives and experimental evidence for WGS.

This study focused on exploring the specificity of mechanical behavior for completely weathered granite, as a special soil, by consolidated drained triaxial tests. The influences of dry density (1.60, 1.70, 1.80 and 1.90 g/cm(3)), confining pressure (100, 200, 400 and 600 kPa), and moisture content (13.0%, that is, natural moisture content) were investigated in the present work. A newly developed Duncan-Chang model was established based on the experimental data and Duncan-Chang model. The influence of each parameter on the type of the proposed model curve was also evaluated. The experimental results revealed that with varying dry density and confining pressure, the deviatoric stress-strain curves have diversified characteristics including strain-softening, strain-stabilization and strain-hardening. Under high confining pressure condition, specimens with different densities all showed strain-hardening characteristic. Whereas at the low confining pressure levels, specimens with higher densities gradually transform into softening characteristics. Except for individual compression shear failure, the deformation modes of the specimens all showed swelling deformation, and all the damaged specimens maintained good integrity. Through comparing the experiment results, the strain-softening or strain-hardening behavior of CWG specimens could be predicted following the proposed model with high accuracy. Additionally, the proposed model can accurately characterize the key mechanical indicators, such as tangent modulus, peak value and residual strength, which is simple to implement and depends on fewer parameters.

The slope erosion in the distribution area of completely weathered granite is often relatively severe, causing serious ecological damage and property loss. Ecological restoration is the most effective means of soil erosion control. Taking completely weathered granite backfill soil as the research object, two types of slope protection plants, Vetiver grass and Pennisetum hydridum, were selected. We analyzed these two herbaceous plants' soil reinforcement and slope protection effects through artificial planting experiments, indoor simulated rainfall experiments, and direct shear tests. The test results showed that the runoff and sediment production rates of the two herbaceous plant slopes were significantly lower than those of the bare slope, with the order of bare slope > Vetiver grass slope > Pennisetum hydridum slope. Compared with the bare slope, the cumulative sediment production of the Vetiver grass slope at 60 min decreased by 56.73-60.09%, and the Pennisetum hydridum slope decreased by 75.97-78.45%. The indoor direct shear test results showed that soil cohesion decreases with increasing water content. As the root content of Vetiver grass roots increases, soil cohesion first increases and then decreases, reaching a maximum value when the root content is 1.44%. As the root content of Pennisetum hydridum increases, soil cohesion increases. The internal friction angle increases slightly with increasing water content, while the root content does not significantly affect the internal friction angle. Therefore, the shear strength of soil decreases when the water content increases. The shear strength of the Vetiver grass root-soil composite reaches a peak at a root content of 1.44%, while the shear strength of the giant king grass root-soil composite increases as the root content increases. At the same root content, the shear strength of the Vetiver grass root-soil composite is slightly higher than that of giant king grass. The reinforcement effect of roots on shallow soil is better than on deep soil. Both herbaceous plants have an excellent soil-fixing and slope-protecting impact on the fully weathered granite backfill slope. Pennisetum hydridum's soil and water conservation effect is significantly better than that of the Vetiver grass. In contrast, Vetiver grass roots slightly outperform Pennisetum hydridum in enhancing the shear strength of the soil. The research results can provide a theoretical basis for the vegetation slope protection treatment of fully weathered granite backfill slopes.

The principal construction-area of offshore wind farm (OWF) in China has shifted from the soil-based seabed area to the weathered rock-based area. The current studies about construction materials of OWF mainly focus on the submarine soft-clay or sandy soil seabed, resulting in the design and construction of OWF in rock-based area cannot directly refer to the existing research conclusions and results recommended in standards. Therefore, this paper concentrates on the investigation of cyclic behavior of submarine completely weathered granite of offshore wind farms in rock-based sea area under cyclic loadings. The experiments analyze the cyclic stress-strain and stress path behavior, revealing two unique development modes under different dynamic loadings, i.e., the stable development mode and the destructive development mode. A unified forecasting model of pore water pressure with different development modes is established, and further research investigates insight critical failure stage by concentrating on pore water pressure. More critical, the unique mechanical properties and microscopic characteristics of completely weathered granite are clearly expounded by comparing with submarine soft clay and sandy soil. This gives the engineering suggestion of design value of OWT foundation in completely weathered granite seabed, and is a helpful reference for the construction of OWF in rock-based sea area.

Heavy or intermittent rainfall can cause slopes to become unstable and erode, resulting in significant damage, loss of life, and destruction of property. Targeted management solutions are based on an analysis of slopes' flow generation and sediment production patterns during periods of rainfall. This study used a fully granite backfill slope as its research subject and examined the features of slope erosion during intermittent rainfall. We examined the processes of slope flow generation and soil erosion during intermittent rain through indoor artificially simulated rainfall experiments. Three intermittent rainfall events with a 220 mm/h intensity were designed during the experiment. Each rainfall event lasted for 60 min, with an interval of 60 min between the events. By analyzing multiple rainfall events, this study reveals the patterns of runoff and sediment yield on different slopes in response to variations in rainfall intensity and slope gradient. The runoff volume on other slope surfaces exhibits a similar pattern in reaction to changes in rainfall events. As the frequency of rainfall events increases, the surface runoff tends to be higher. Additionally, with variations in slope steepness, the runoff volume generally follows an increasing trend. Notably, the slope with a 20 degrees incline shows the smallest runoff volume. The sediment yield on different slope surfaces gradually increases as the slope increases. In particular, on a 20 degrees slope, the sediment yield experiences a substantial increase, indicating that the impact of the slope on the sediment yield becomes more pronounced. In different rainfall events, the morphology of the slope changes due to the influence of gravity and hydraulics, resulting in oscillations in both the average runoff rate and sediment yield. Furthermore, as the slope steepens, the amplitude of these oscillations increases. The process of slope erosion involves three stages: raindrop splash erosion, runoff erosion, and collapse damage. The sequence of slope damage locations is as follows: footslope, mid-slope, and hilltop. For the backfilled slope of completely weathered granite, the artificial slope can be controlled to around 20 degrees. Erosion on the slope mainly occurs after the formation of gullies, and slope management should focus on preventing gully formation before it happens.