Progressive failure mechanism of structuralized cemented slopes

In recent years, structuralized cementation technology has been applied to reinforce coarsegrained soil slopes. The structuralized cemented slope has a gradient area where the cement content decreases from the surface to the interior. Therefore, their deformation and failure characteristics may differ significantly from those of homogeneous cemented slopes. A series of centrifuge model tests is conducted to observe the deformation and failure behaviors of structuralized cemented slopes. A structuralized cemented slope is observed to be divided into solidification, variation and pure soil zones according to the cement distribution. The structuralized cemented slope at failure exhibits two slip surfaces: one inside the slope and one along the boundary of the solidification zone. The slip surfaces develop from the top to the bottom of the slope under vertical loading conditions. The expansion of the solidification zone accelerates the failure process and reduces the deformation of the slope. The slope displacement direction is relevant to the cement distribution. The failure mechanism of a structuralized cemented slope can be illustrated by significant coupling processes between the deformation localization and local failure and used to clarify the variation in the stability level and slip surface of structuralized cemented slopes with various cement contents.