This study investigated the crack propagation law of expansive soil slopes under drying–wetting conditions and the influence of cracks on slopes by conducting a large-scale indoor slope test subjected to drying–wetting cycles. The change in soil moisture content at different depths during the drying–wetting cycles was monitored using a moisture content sensor, and the variation in crack depths in the expansive soil during the drying process was measured using a crack depth detector. The cracks on the slope’s surface were processed using a self-made binarization program, and the crack evolution mechanism of the expansive soil during the drying process was analyzed. The rainfall-induced change in moisture content in the fractured soil was used to obtain the influence of moisture content change on expansive soils, and to analyze the dry–wet cycle failure mode of surface soil. The surface cracks of the soil were quantified by binary processing, and the area of the cracks and the area ratio of cracked soil to intact soil were calculated. Finally, by using PFC simulation software with the slope cracks and quantitative analysis results as parameters, it was confirmed that the greater the number of drying–wetting cycles, the greater the number of cracks, and the greater the damage to the slope.
The overtopping failure that occurred to the reinforced tailings dam has led to devastating catastrophes, including severe environmental disasters as well as tragedy in terms of any loss of properties and life. To study the feature of overtopping erosion for the reinforced fine-grained tailings dam induced by mud-water mixture overflow, the red mud concentration of overflow, the erosion depths and erosion rate have been consistently detected and recorded by a series of physical model tests. This investigation conclusively showed that the red mud concentration for flooding over the dam slope had a nonlinear trend of first becoming larger, subsequently decreasing with the time going on in the process of tailing dam overtopping; the maximum red mud concentration achieved 19.0%. The erosion on the dam slope was shaped like a trumpet. The red mud concentration of the mud-water mixture flow affected the erosion depth significantly. The hydraulic tests simulating erosion behaviour in the reinforced fine-grained tailings were carried out with different red mud concentrations (0%, 10%, and 20%). For the mud-water mixture flow in a red mud concentration of 20%, the final erosion depth exhibited a ladder shape from the front to the trailing end (dam toe) of the tailings sample. The final erosion depths were 1.56 cm, 0.9 cm, and 0.55 cm at the front, middle, and trailing end, respectively. With the red mud concentration decreasing, the final erosion depth at the front of the tailings sample reduced significantly while increasing at the trailing end. This study brought more scientific insights into the overtopping erosion process to the reinforced fine-grained tailings dam triggered by the mud-water mixture flow at multiscale.
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