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<p>Expansive soil commonly exhibits over-consolidation, yet its influence on damage-induced softening remains insufficiently understood. In this study, ring shear tests were conducted on expansive soils with varying over-consolidation ratios to quantify the damage softening behavior under large deformation. Three representative damage evolution equations were introduced to model the observed softening responses. The results show that the peak-to-residual strength reduction ratio ranges from 17.1% to 44.2% and increases systematically with over-consolidation ratio, indicating progressively stronger post-peak softening. Damage softening is governed by deformation-driven micro-crack propagation and shear zone formation, leading to cohesion degradation and shear localization. The Weibull model and Logistic model exhibit superior predictive performance, with <i>RMSE</i> values of 0.80–4.28 and <i>MAE</i> values of 0.53–2.93, whereas the Harris model fails to capture the pronounced softening of over-consolidated expansive soil. A novel generalized hybrid damage model was further proposed, resulting in improved modeling accuracy. Based on the maximum post-peak strength attenuation rate, a brittleness index was proposed, with values ranging from 1.03 to 6.62&#xa0;kPa/mm and exhibiting an increasing trend with over-consolidation ratio, indicating enhanced brittleness under higher over-consolidation. These findings provide quantitative insight into the damage softening mechanism of over-consolidated expansive soil and offer a practical basis for the assessment of expansive soil slopes.</p>

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Effect of over-consolidation on damage softening behavior of expansive soil: an experimental and modeling study

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月14日

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  • Junbiao Yan,
  • Lingwei Kong,
  • Tianguo Li,
  • Zhenhua Zhou,
  • Wenhao Jiang

摘要

Expansive soil commonly exhibits over-consolidation, yet its influence on damage-induced softening remains insufficiently understood. In this study, ring shear tests were conducted on expansive soils with varying over-consolidation ratios to quantify the damage softening behavior under large deformation. Three representative damage evolution equations were introduced to model the observed softening responses. The results show that the peak-to-residual strength reduction ratio ranges from 17.1% to 44.2% and increases systematically with over-consolidation ratio, indicating progressively stronger post-peak softening. Damage softening is governed by deformation-driven micro-crack propagation and shear zone formation, leading to cohesion degradation and shear localization. The Weibull model and Logistic model exhibit superior predictive performance, with RMSE values of 0.80–4.28 and MAE values of 0.53–2.93, whereas the Harris model fails to capture the pronounced softening of over-consolidated expansive soil. A novel generalized hybrid damage model was further proposed, resulting in improved modeling accuracy. Based on the maximum post-peak strength attenuation rate, a brittleness index was proposed, with values ranging from 1.03 to 6.62 kPa/mm and exhibiting an increasing trend with over-consolidation ratio, indicating enhanced brittleness under higher over-consolidation. These findings provide quantitative insight into the damage softening mechanism of over-consolidated expansive soil and offer a practical basis for the assessment of expansive soil slopes.