Characteristics of Microstructural Changes of Malan Loess in Yan’an Area during Creep Test

Abstract

The shortage of land resources on the Loess Plateau has long been a thorny problem. Many high-fill projects are carried out, accompanied by a series of geological hazards, which threaten the ecological environment and personal safety. The creep characteristics of loess are an essential part of loess landslide research. The microstructural changes are closely related to creep behavior. By conducting triaxial creep experiments on Malan loess from the Yan’an area in China, scanning electron microscope (SEM) experiments on loess in different creep stages were carried out. Using qualitative and quantitative analyses of the microstructural characteristics of intact loess and remodeled loess during creep, the microstructural parameters were compared, and finally, the microscopic mechanisms during creep were analyzed. The qualitative analysis of remodeled loess during creep returned significantly higher results than it did for intact loess. During the creep process, among the microstructural parameters of loess change, the change in pore and particle size and shape were the most obvious, while the complexity of other microstructural parameters and orientation changed little. During the creep process of loess, the soil skeleton changed continuously, but the loess microstructure featured different changes at different levels of deviator stress.