Visibility and mechanical properties of transparent clay

The transparent soil is a kind of important material for the visualization researches model tests in geotechnical engineering. It is of great significance to clarify its visibility control factors and physical and mechanical properties. The white oil No. 15 and n-dodecane are used as the pore liquid, and the amorphous silicon powder is used as the solid phase material. By comparing the ratio of different pore liquids and the mass ratio of silicon powder, it is found that the visibility is the best when the ratio of the white oil No. 15 to the n-dodecane is 10:3 (volume ratio) and that of the pore liquid to the amorphous silicon powder is 1.5:1 (mass ratio). The deformation and strength characteristics of the transparent clay with the best visibility are tested. The test results show that the transparent clay is a highly compressive soil, and its compression deformation characteristics are similar to those of Tianjin coastal soft clay, and their differences in compression coefficient and compression modulus are within 10%. The consolidated quick shear tests show that when the stress level of transparent clay is relatively lower (≤200 kPa), the strength indices can be taken as c≈11 kPa, φ=14°~18°, and when the stress level is relatively higher (>200 kPa), the strength indices can be taken as c=20.28 kPa~22.62 kPa, φ≈17°.