Wetting Deformation and Constitutive Modeling of Predisintegrated Carbonaceous Mudstone Subjected to Drying–Wetting Cycles

Abstract Predisintegrated carbonaceous mudstone (PCM) that exhibits low strength and continuous disintegration is prone to wetting deformation after repeated seasonal rainfall. A reasonable assessment of wetting deformation is required to facilitate the settlement control of the PCM embankment when exposed to repeated rainfall. Herein, to reveal the wetting deformation mechanism of the PCM subjected to drying–wetting cycles, the effects of drying–wetting cycles on the wetting deformation characteristics of the PCM are investigated using the double-line method. Microscopic pore characteristics of the PCM under different drying–wetting cycles were analyzed through scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs. Comparative analysis of the wetting deformation data between the tests and the constitutive model considering the damage of drying–wetting cycles was carried out. The results showed that the deviator stress–strain relationship curves of the PCM exhibit the strain hardening without obvious peak and no strain softening phenomena. The critical wetting strain of the PCM was positively correlated with the number of drying–wetting cycles, while the critical deviator stress decreased with an increase in the number of drying–wetting cycles. As the number of cycles increased, the gelling material between the particles dissolved, the volume of pores inside the PCM increased, and the number of pores inside the PCM decreased. The porosity of PCM had a significant quadratic function with the number of drying–wetting cycles. A wetting deformation damage model was developed to calculate the wetting deformation of the PCM by considering the effects of drying–wetting cycles, which can be useful for evaluating rainfall-induced settlements of relevant engineering structures made from PCM.