Acoustic emission analysis of shear processes in red sandstone with soft red bed interlayers

Acoustic emission analysis of shear processes in red sandstone with soft red bed interlayers | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Acoustic emission analysis of shear processes in red sandstone with soft red bed interlayers Tao Yang, Fusheng Zha, Shan Wu, Haichun Ma This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6385762/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Rock slope instability often occurs along weak interlayers, which play a crucial role in triggering slope failures. Rainfall is a primary factor causing landslides by weakening these interlayers. This study investigates precursory signals of slip along soft rock interlayers under varying rainfall-induced water contents (10%, 20%, 30%) using shear tests combined with acoustic emission (AE) monitoring. A directional roughness coefficient, R, was introduced to quantitatively analyze the impact of structural plane roughness on shear behavior. The results indicate that increasing water content significantly decreases frictional strength, with friction coefficients dropping from approximately 0.7 to between 0.25 and 0.3. At high water contents, structural plane roughness strongly influences residual strength. AE monitoring revealed that higher water content reduces AE activity, decreases event frequency and energy release, and shifts the failure mode from tension-dominated to shear-dominated. The shear behavior demonstrates a progressive failure pattern characterized by three stages: initial deformation, peak shear strength, and residual strength. Notably, the evolution of AE b-value closely aligns with peak shear strength, providing potential early warning indicators of impending instability. Furthermore, the AE source distribution transitions from concentrated clusters to more dispersed patterns, accompanied by an increased proportion of low-energy events. The combined observations of sudden increases in AE rate, decreasing b-value, and changes in AE source distribution effectively identify precursors to rainfall-induced slope instability involving soft rock interlayers. Water content acoustic emission structural plane deformation failure mode precursory characteristics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 15 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 06 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 31 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Jul, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 14 Jul, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 24 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 06 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6385762","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":485496982,"identity":"27f8db32-6add-4b7f-b073-149715003c07","order_by":0,"name":"Tao Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hefei University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tao","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":485496983,"identity":"a23159af-fa3c-4370-bfce-b283ef5eb425","order_by":1,"name":"Fusheng Zha","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJACZgYGmwT2BhCTjXgtaQk8B5hJ03KYBC3y7s2HPxfUnM/jkcg/wPCh7DAD/+wG/FoMzxxLMJ5x7HYxj0QyA+OMc4cZJO4cIKBlRo5BMg/b7cT9QC3MvG2HGQwkEghomf/G4DDPv3OJPSAtf4nRIi/BY9jM23YAooWRGC0GPGnJzLx9yYk9PI8NDvacS+eRuEHIlvbDhz/zfLNL7GFPfPjgR5m1HP8MQrYcQOKA2Dz41YNsaSCoZBSMglEwCkY8AABxbkEB9LUEHAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Hefei University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fusheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Zha","suffix":""},{"id":485496984,"identity":"2498d56f-bbef-4f14-b9b2-9991ad76c919","order_by":2,"name":"Shan Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hefei University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":485496985,"identity":"238345b5-18f5-448c-960c-03c4a1dca44b","order_by":3,"name":"Haichun Ma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hefei University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haichun","middleName":"","lastName":"Ma","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-06 09:08:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6385762/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6385762/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":86915643,"identity":"cae22b78-a814-412f-8f6c-aadc4316d03a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-17 06:24:42","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1073370,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Rainslope0416.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6385762/v1_covered_57f8bb83-70d6-42fa-ac94-f72c6951b8ad.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Acoustic emission analysis of shear processes in red sandstone with soft red bed interlayers","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"international-journal-of-geo-engineering","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"geoe","sideBox":"Learn more about [International Journal of Geo-Engineering](https://link.springer.com/journal/40703)","snPcode":"40703","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/40703/3","title":"International Journal of Geo-Engineering","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Open","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Water content, acoustic emission, structural plane deformation, failure mode, precursory characteristics","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6385762/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6385762/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRock slope instability often occurs along weak interlayers, which play a crucial role in triggering slope failures. 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