Secondary compression and breakage of crushed mudstones due to slaking under 1D consolidation

Abstract

Soft sedimentary rocks, especially mudstones, disintegrate subjected to cyclic drying and wetting, known as slaking, which was the cause of severe slope failures/ground settlement. In this study, a conventional oedometer was modified to make a drying/wetting cycle with temperature variation to examine the effects of slaking for four materials. Further, Hamamatsu mudstone, for evaluating the vertical stress influences, was experimented with under three loading conditions. The particle breakage was also measured along the drying/wetting cycles. It showed that particle breakage in the first cycle and consecutive cycles are governed by stress conditions and the void ratio of the specimen respectively.