Strength and Fractal Damage Characteristics of Cement-Coal Slag Stabilized Soil under Freeze-thaw Cycles

Strength and Fractal Damage Characteristics of Cement-Coal Slag Stabilized Soil under Freeze-thaw Cycles | 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 Strength and Fractal Damage Characteristics of Cement-Coal Slag Stabilized Soil under Freeze-thaw Cycles Kun Ren, Mengqi Shi, Mingshuang Liang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5910959/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Triaxial compression tests and CT scanning experiments were conducted to study the variation law of the mechanical characteristics of cement-coal slag stabilized soil (CCSSS) and divide the meso-structure of the CCSSS into regions based on the distribution of CT values. The evolution law and fractal characteristics of the meso-structure in the damage zone under freeze-thaw cycles were analyzed, while the relationship between the macroscopic mechanical parameters of CCSSS and the morphology of the damage zone was established by fractal characteristics. The results showed that with an increase in the number of freeze-thaw cycles, the shear strength of CCSSS exhibited an exponential decay pattern. The freeze-thaw cycles significantly impacted the strain energy density and cohesion of CCSSS, while the change in internal friction angle is insignificant. As the number of freeze-thaw cycles increases, the damaged area of CCSSS gradually expanded, with the effects of the initial 5 freeze-thaw cycles being more pronounced. Moreover, with an increase in water content, the damaged area of CCSSS showed an accelerating growth trend. There is a strong negative linear correlation between the fractal dimension of the damaged area and shear strength, accurately reflecting the damage caused by freeze-thaw action to the soil. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Engineering/Civil engineering cement-coal slag stabilized soil freeze-thaw cycles mesostructure fractal dimension strength damage Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 07 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 06 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 27 Mar, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Mar, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Mar, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 27 Mar, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 26 Mar, 2025 First submitted to journal 20 Mar, 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-5910959","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":434663307,"identity":"77fe6c73-9f52-458e-bdd3-02c42f2360aa","order_by":0,"name":"Kun Ren","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Dalian Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kun","middleName":"","lastName":"Ren","suffix":""},{"id":434663308,"identity":"4aed3592-7d5c-43ba-ad68-6e79378c6b08","order_by":1,"name":"Mengqi Shi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyUlEQVRIie3QMQrCMBQG4JRAp2jX51I9wiuB4tCbuESEbIKjQ9GAoIvQ1WMIXiDyoJPQ1bG9QQ/QwTo6SOPmkG/Oz/v/MOZ5/ygqWtsixBHnVLtFwCbNZTOXk1Oo0fGMklK02+W1EjNw62WsBoEQ3EgwZHm2GO5FpgRA4CmNbM1KvTaDGXs/AiKEKY0VBoaGI1O7CkEhCHl413OJoNUcLfbduGskeT6CxmC/hvpPVi5b4urMqOt2+6Igqts8c5j/Qf323PM8z/vmBbbfPvSlatJsAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Dalian Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mengqi","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""},{"id":434663309,"identity":"9186b420-8971-4be6-a7a6-efae36656a86","order_by":2,"name":"Mingshuang Liang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Dalian Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mingshuang","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-27 09:23:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5910959/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5910959/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04449-8","type":"published","date":"2025-07-29T16:12:58+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":88268891,"identity":"9bbe6779-00d4-434b-9cc4-de8a026ff80c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-04 16:52:41","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":874766,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"RevisedManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5910959/v1_covered_3f7481f8-8b8a-4a2b-b517-069be8f9d85f.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Strength and Fractal Damage Characteristics of Cement-Coal Slag Stabilized Soil under Freeze-thaw Cycles","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":"cement-coal slag stabilized soil, freeze-thaw cycles, mesostructure, fractal dimension, strength, damage","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5910959/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5910959/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTriaxial compression tests and CT scanning experiments were conducted to study the variation law of the mechanical characteristics of cement-coal slag stabilized soil (CCSSS) and divide the meso-structure of the CCSSS into regions based on the distribution of CT values. 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