Experimental investigation on the temperature-dependent shear strength of frozen coarse-grained soil-rock interfaces by considering three-dimensional roughness

Abstract

Climate warming has led to landslides, especially the slopes containing soil-rock interfaces. A series of shear tests were conducted on the coarse-grained soil (CGS) rock interface at low temperatures. The interface shear strength comprises the pre-peak bonding strength produced by ice and post-peak residual strength created by friction between the CGS and rock surface. As the temperature rose from -15 to -1 ℃, the bonded ice strength at different rough interfaces rapidly decreased by a maximum of 82.99 %, because more than 21.29 % of the pore ice had thawed within the CGS. However, the average interface residual strength had decreased by only 18.56 %, which is consistent with the variation of the internal friction angle of the frozen CGS. The interfacial shear strength was much lower than the shear strength of the frozen CGS below -1 ℃ and that the shear slide typically occurred at the interface. In addition, as the freezing temperature increased, the impact of the three-dimensional roughness to the interfacial shear strength decreased, because the warm frozen CGS could easily shear rupture and adhere to the interface, reducing the influence of the roughness. Finally, it was demonstrated that the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion could be employed to predict the interface peak shear strength for different normal stresses. This study aims to determine the mechanism responsible for shear strength reduction at a frozen CGS-rock interface during warming and to provide some references for preventing landslides caused by rising temperatures.