Abstract:

The comparative tests are made on influence of freezingthawing cycle and water content on loess strength of Yangqu Highway Tunnel No. 1 in Shanxi. The testing results show that: 1) The shear strength and cohesion of intact and remolded soil samples reduce with the water content increases; the internal friction angles of both samples remain stable; the shear strength and cohesion of intact soil samples are larger than those of remolded soil samples under same water content. 2) The obvious variation of dry density of loess under high water content and freezingthawing test shows that the larger the water content is, the more significant the loess degradation is.

Key words: loess, Yangqu Tunnel, freezingthawing cycle, degradation