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Guilin is a famous karst area, and currently the view that the disintegration of red clay will cause soil cave collapse is increasingly recognized. In order to study the influence of the coupling effect of moisture content and void ratio on the disintegration of red clay, different moisture contents and void ratios of Guilin red clay were placed on a self-made disintegration apparatus to record the real-time disintegration amount and observe the disintegration phenomenon. Images of the structural characteristics of soil were obtained by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Additionally, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was applied to analyze the distribution of water in both natural and saturated states. The results show that the disintegration rate of red clay decreases as the initial moisture content increases, but increases with the increase of void ratio. Both moisture content and void ratio affect the structural characteristics of red clay. When the moisture content remains constant, the soil changes from a three-peak to a two-peak structure as the void ratio increases. The total area and secondary peak area of the T2 spectrum increase, while the starting T2 value of the main peak shifts to the right and the area decreases. Meanwhile, the starting T2 value of the secondary peak shifts to the right and the area increases. When the void ratio remains constant, the starting T2 value of the main peak gradually shifts to the left and the area decreases as the moisture content increases. However, the starting T2 value of the secondary peak shifts to the right and the area decreases or first decreases and then increases. The disintegration rate does not exhibit a significant relationship with either pore volume or macropore volume. The combined water saturation shows a bilinear relationship with both the moisture content and void ratio, where it increases as the initial moisture content increases, but decreases as the void ratio increases, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9929. The disintegration rate has an exponential relationship with the combined water saturation, and it decreases as the combined water saturation increases, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9934.

Under the background of climate warming in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), frequent freeze–thaw cycling (FTC) brings about great geological disasters such as subgrade failure, landslides, and mudslides, which is closely related to the strength reduction caused by the structural damage of soils. In this study, to explore the association between macro shear strength and microstructure evolution of soils subjected to FTC, the red clay distributed widely in the QTP was chosen and used to conduct a series of triaxial shear and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tests in the range of 1 to 7 FTCs. Triaxial shear test results reveal that the shear strength reduction of specimens mainly occurs within five FTCs, and the trend of peak deviator stress with increasing FTCs can be described in three stages: rapid descent (FTCs less than three), slow descent (FTCs between three and five), and stabilization (FTCs greater than five). NMR tests show that the T2 spectrum curves exhibit a distinct bimodal distribution characteristic, corresponding to macropores and micropores. Part of the micropores gradually develop into macropores with increasing FTCs, especially within five FTCs. The increase in macropores proportion leads to a loose soil structure, which is consistent with the deterioration of the shear strength of specimens. Finally, based on the experimental results and classical Mohr–Coulomb theory, a new shear strength model with structural damage for red clay has been proposed by introducing a damage factor expressed by T2 spectral area.

In order to explore the creep characteristics of red clay under different pressures, the stress–strain curve and stress–strain–time curve of red clay under different pressures were obtained, and the triaxial shear and creep characteristics of red clay under different pressures were analysed. A triaxial shear test and creep test were carried out on red clay from Guilin as the research object under different pressures. The results show that: ➀ the cohesion and the angle of internal friction of red clay from Guilin, obtained from a triaxial shear test, are 57.20 kPa and 22.47°, respectively; ➁ according to the physical meaning of the parameters of the Burgers creep model, a simple and practical parameter inversion method is proposed, which can be used to obtain the parameters of the Burgers model for red clay under different perimeter pressures and differing deviatoric stress; and ➂ when comparing the calculation results with the test results, the correlation coefficients R2 of the two are above 0.9, with a good fitting effect, so the model can accurately describe the creep characteristics of red clay from Guilin. This study can provide a theoretical basis and technical support for engineering construction in the red clay area of Guilin.

In this paper, mixtures with different proportions of lime, phosphogypsum, and red clay were prepared, and the road properties and micromechanisms of lime–phosphogypsum-stabilized red clay were investigated by unconfined compressive strength test, water stability test, swelling test, shrinkage test, XRD quantitative analysis, and scanning electron microscope analysis. The results showed that the unconfined compressive strength of the mix increased and then decreased with the increase of phosphogypsum content. With the increase of age, the growth was faster in the first 14 days and basically stabilized in the last 14 days. The mixture has poor water stability, large absolute swelling rate, and low linear shrinkage. The reason for the increase of strength is that the reaction of lime, phosphogypsum, and red clay produces ettringite, and the cementing substance gels form a three-dimensional mesh skeleton structure; the excess of ettringite will cause the skeleton to expand and break, and the strength decreases.

High-liquid limit red clay has poor engineering characteristics, namely poor water stability, low strength, and large expansion and contraction deformation. The clay may be reinforced with an F1 ionic soil stabilizer. The engineering characteristics of this reinforced clay were studied, specifically concerning its basic physical parameters, shear strength parameters, and micropore structure. The F1 ionic soil stabilizer significantly improved the water sensitivity, compaction characteristics, and shear strength of red clay. We determined that the optimal F1 ionic soil stabilizer mix was 0.5 L/m3, resulting in a reinforced clay with plastic limit increased by 45.74%, optimal moisture content increased by 12.12%, maximum dry density increased by 5.8%, liquid limit reduced by 8.4%, plasticity index reduced by 43.8%, infiltration coefficient reduced by 41.8%, cohesion increased 1.64-fold, and internal friction angle increased 1.30-fold. Freeze-thaw cycles reduced the shear strength parameters of the reinforced red clay, although even after 15 cycles, it still had 18.4% higher cohesion and 57.1% higher internal friction angle than undisturbed red clay. The F1 ionic soil stabilizer significantly reduced the pore size and area of red clay, the complex connected pore structure is adjusted to a more regular structure. The reinforced clay had 56.64% lower pore area ratio, 32.27% lower average Feret diameter, and 2.43% lower fractal dimension.

In this study, cement, zeolite powder and three industrial by-products (blast furnace slag, steel slag, and fly ash) were selected as additives to study their effects on the swelling potential of red clay with different curing ages and dosages. At the same time, the mechanism of additives reducing the swelling potential of red clay was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) tests. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) test was used to detect the clay mineral content of the red clay specimens before and after the modification to determine the change in the clay mineral content of the specimens. The direct shear test was used to explore the influence of additives on the strength of red clay. The results show that with 9% cement content, the no loading swelling potential of specimens can be reduced by 82.5% under 28 days of curing, and the cohesion of the specimens can be greatly increased by 82%. However, the specimens with cement have an increase in no loading swelling potential under the condition of no curing. In contrast, when steel slag is used as an additive to modify the swelling properties of red clay, the swelling potential can be reduced without curing, but the addition of steel slag will reduce the cohesive strength of specimens. XRD testing shows that the clay mineral composition in cement-modified specimens and steel slag-modified specimens experienced a relative change, the relative content of montmorillonite and illite decreased, and the relative content of kaolinite increased. Combined with SEM and XRF test results, it is concluded that cement’s reduction in the swelling potential of red clay depends on pozzolanic reaction products filling the pores in specimens and bonding clay particles, so as to reduce the permeability of red clay and increase the resistance during swelling. The addition of cement can also convert hydrophilic clay minerals into nonhydrophilic clay minerals. Compared with cement, the reduction in swelling potential caused by steel slag mainly depends on the adsorption of ions to reduce the adsorption of water molecules on the surface of clay slices.

An integrated rainwater management system is necessary due to the frequent occurrence of localized torrential rainfall and heat waves caused by an abnormal climate. It is necessary to develop a rainwater detention system that can implement rainwater infiltration and detention simultaneously. In this study, the safety, durability, and eco-friendliness of an eco-friendly rainwater detention system developed using an eco-friendly inorganic binder, which involves red clay, were evaluated and its economic feasibility was compared with that of the existing detention system. After 14 days, analysis of the maximum compression load and computational finite element analysis confirmed that the strength standard was satisfied and the structure was safe. No heavy metals or organic compounds were detected in the leaching test. Thus, the eco-friendly rainwater detention system is structurally safe and eco-friendly with no impact on the soil and groundwater environment, and is economically feasible because the construction cost and life cycle cost are approximately 30% and 58% lower, respectively, than those of the existing polyethylene infiltration detention tank system. These results indicate that improved safety, eco-friendliness, and economic feasibility can be achieved, compared to those of the existing system, if the eco-friendly rainwater detention system is applied in the field.

Red clay is not easy to use as a natural foundation because of its high water content, high plasticity index, large void ratio, and susceptibility to shrinkage and cracking. In this study, consolidated undrained triaxial tests were conducted to examine the mechanical properties of polypropylene fiber-reinforced red clay and to analyze the influence of the fiber content (FC), fiber length (FL), and cell pressure on its shear strength. By performing a regression analysis on the test data, a hyperbolic constitutive model that considers the influence of FC, FL, and cell pressure was established, and a method was developed to estimate the parameters of the model. The findings show that, in contrast with the nonreinforced red clay, the fiber-reinforced red clay had a stress-strain curve characterized by typical strain hardening, with the shear strength increasing with FC, FL and cell pressure. The calculated results of the model coincide with the test results well, confirming that the hyperbolic model could appropriately describe the stress-strain relationship of polypropylene fiber-reinforced red clay and have reference value for the design and construction of fiber-reinforced red clay foundations.

Particle size exerts a significant influence on the mechanical behavior of soil. However, insufficient research has been carried out on red clay formations, which are widespread in some Chinese provinces. Here, using unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests, wetting–drying (WD) tests, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption tests, we examined the relationship between the particle size and a number of mechanical and microstructural characteristics of a red clay outcropping at a construction site in China. Our results suggest that, depending on the surface area, porosity, particle size, and dry density, the failure mechanism in UCS tests will be different. That is, as the particle size increases, the failure mode of soil changes from split failure into shear failure. In addition, as the dry density increases, the UCS of the soil sample is significantly improved, and its total porosity and fractal dimension decrease. We also evaluated a dependence on particle size and the number of WD cycles on the distribution and size of cracks in WD tests. We conclude by suggesting that particle size, dry density, and WD behavior should all be taken into account in roadbed designs in red clay formations.

As one of the important parameters used in the analysis and design of subgrade, resilient modulus is directly related to the safety, economic and life time of subgrade structure. In this paper, the characteristics of resilient modulus of improved red clay at different additive content were studied through conducting laboratory repeated load tri-axial tests. The influence of stress state, moisture content, compactness, additive types, and content on resilient modulus were analyzed. In addition, the regression analysis of resilient modulus, was carried out referencing three existing prediction models. The results showed that the Andrei model can better fit the resilient modulus of red clay and have a higher determination coefficient. However, the Andrei model and other existing prediction models, reflect only the influence of stress state on resilient modulus, without considering the influence of moisture content, compactness and additive content. Therefore, based on the Andrei model, a comprehensive prediction model, which can reflect the influence of compactness, moisture content, additive content, and stress state on resilient modulus was introduced. Good agreement between the regression results and the measured ones demonstrated the integrative ability of the introduced model.