Liu, F. ， Xu, Q. ， Zhang, Y. ， Frost, J. D. ， Zhang, X.
2019-03-01 GEOTECHNIQUE LETTERS 2019 9(卷), 1(期), (22-27页)
The flow instability of intact and reconstituted silty loess recovered from the loess plateau of China are studied under undrained monotonic loading using conventional triaxial tests; flow instability has been postulated as the primary cause for loess flowslides. The experimentally determined critical state lines of intact and reconstituted silty loess appear to be non-linear and the flow behaviours are state-dependent with non-unique instability lines. The effect of structure of intact silty loess can either impede or facilitate the onset of flow instability depending on the state of the soil. A previously proposed modified state parameter is employed to better characterise the flow behaviours of silty loess, with a revised range and corresponding descriptors.