The effects of dry density and moisture content on the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer

The effects of dry density and moisture content on the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer | 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 Article The effects of dry density and moisture content on the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer Mao Chen, Jiaming Zhang, Peicheng Qiu, Fei Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4651866/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Shear strength parameter is one of the important indexes of soil, which is the key factor to determine the stability of the project. In order to study the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer, an improved direct shear apparatus was used to carry out indoor direct shear tests under different dry density and moisture content conditions. The results show that the shear stress increases with the increase of dry density and decreases with the increase of moisture content. When the moisture content is 20%, the shear stress-shear displacement of the muddy interlayer shows obvious strain-softening phenomenon. When the moisture content is 23% and 25%, the sample shows hardening characteristics at low normal stress level. With the increase of stress level, the curve transits from softening type to hardening type. When the moisture content is 28%, the curves show slight strain softening. Under the condition of low moisture content, the internal friction angle decreases with the increase of dry density, while the cohesion increases with the increase of dry density. At medium moisture content, both of them fluctuated with dry density, but the amplitude was not large. At high water content, the response effects of internal friction angle, cohesion and dry density are not obvious. The research results can provide a reference for the research on disaster prevention and early warning of related projects of clay-type muddy interlayer. Dry density Moisture content Improved direct shear apparatus Shear characteristics Clay-type mudded interlayer Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 10 Dec, 2024 Reviews received at journal 21 Oct, 2024 Reviews received at journal 10 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 01 Oct, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 16 Sep, 2024 Editor invited by journal 02 Jul, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 29 Jun, 2024 First submitted to journal 27 Jun, 2024 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. 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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-4651866","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":329646876,"identity":"ff83419a-6185-40b7-a682-5eef3b0ef60c","order_by":0,"name":"Mao Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kunming University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mao","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":329646877,"identity":"e7d4467b-0982-4bea-98ba-c151021c40d7","order_by":1,"name":"Jiaming Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABCklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCRDBAySZgfSHA0iCRGlhnAHUwkOcFihg5iFGi/zs5mcPv8hYyOu28x5+bXPmsL09A/PB2zwMdnm4tDDOOWZuLMMjYbjtMF+adc6Nw4k9DGzJ1jwMycW4tDBLJJhJS/BIMG47zGNmnPPhcAIPA4+ZNA/DgcQGHFrYJNK/gbTYg7VYfDhsz8PA/w2vFh6JHDPJDzwSiUAtxo8Zbhxm7GHgYcOrRUIip0waqDEZZAtjz5n0xJ7DbMaWcwyScWqRn5G+TfJnT53ttvNnjD/8OGZtz97e/PDGmwo7nFrAQcDbA/UXhAsiDPCoBwLGHz8gaj/gVzcKRsEoGAUjFQAA9UhPALQW9QwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Kunming University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiaming","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":329646878,"identity":"197afb73-3c08-426c-853c-57ebf569b81b","order_by":2,"name":"Peicheng Qiu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kunming University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Peicheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Qiu","suffix":""},{"id":329646879,"identity":"82e34518-31c6-4586-9b4e-e6f5012b2cbe","order_by":3,"name":"Fei Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kunming University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fei","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-28 03:51:26","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4651866/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4651866/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89085-y","type":"published","date":"2025-02-17T15:57:31+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":77052594,"identity":"4d050bfa-2a2d-4eb5-b320-3215e748f9ea","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-24 16:16:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1777268,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4651866/v1_covered_1053e5ad-2c5d-477b-8646-b9c6977616fe.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The effects of dry density and moisture content on the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Dry density, Moisture content, Improved direct shear apparatus, Shear characteristics, Clay-type mudded interlayer","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4651866/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4651866/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":" Shear strength parameter is one of the important indexes of soil, which is the key factor to determine the stability of the project. In order to study the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer, an improved direct shear apparatus was used to carry out indoor direct shear tests under different dry density and moisture content conditions. The results show that the shear stress increases with the increase of dry density and decreases with the increase of moisture content. When the moisture content is 20%, the shear stress-shear displacement of the muddy interlayer shows obvious strain-softening phenomenon. When the moisture content is 23% and 25%, the sample shows hardening characteristics at low normal stress level. With the increase of stress level, the curve transits from softening type to hardening type. When the moisture content is 28%, the curves show slight strain softening. Under the condition of low moisture content, the internal friction angle decreases with the increase of dry density, while the cohesion increases with the increase of dry density. At medium moisture content, both of them fluctuated with dry density, but the amplitude was not large. At high water content, the response effects of internal friction angle, cohesion and dry density are not obvious. The research results can provide a reference for the research on disaster prevention and early warning of related projects of clay-type muddy interlayer.","manuscriptTitle":"The effects of dry density and moisture content on the shear characteristics of clay-type muddy interlayer","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-22 18:50:10","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4651866/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-12-10T09:34:26+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-10-21T05:38:59+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-10-11T01:10:22+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"200071248056192706518635133646400616579","date":"2024-10-01T14:39:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"245378205844711980659953065822410617404","date":"2024-10-01T14:12:08+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-10-01T14:09:10+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-09-16T12:28:51+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2024-07-02T18:21:07+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-06-29T12:18:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2024-06-28T03:49:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"586017ae-1312-4b7f-9a7c-034dfbc3741d","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 22nd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-02-24T16:01:47+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4651866","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89085-y","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2025-02-17 15:57:31","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 17th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-22 18:50:10","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-025-89085-y","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89085-y","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4651866","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4651866","identity":"rs-4651866","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}