In order to study the feasibility and sand substitution mechanism of cement mortar mixed with iron ore tailings (IOT), iron ore tailings cement mortars (referred to as IOTC) with IOT content of 0%, 25%, and 50% were made and tested. First, the basic properties of IOT used were measured to verify the theoretical feasibility. Second, the uniaxial compressive and tensile strengths, as well as the crack resistance performance of IOTC under different curing ages and different sand substitution rates were tested. Third, the techniques of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) were used to study the influence of curing age and different sand substitution rates on the chemical, mineralogical, and microstructural characteristics of IOTC. The sand substitution mechanism of IOT was then discussed. The research results proved the feasibility of using IOT to substitute standard sand in cement mortar. Within substitution rate of 0–50%, the mechanical properties increased with the increase of substitution rate. Though limited chemical effects were found by adding IOT, in comparison with standard sand mortar, more hydration products were found and the pore size distribution was changed for IOTC, which corresponds to its mechanical improvement.

This paper targets the expansive soils in Heilongjiang and Ankang to explore the influence of initial dry density, dry‐wet cycle, and freeze‐thaw cycle on the soil‐water characteristics. The centrifuge method was used to obtain the soil‐water characteristic curves (SWCCs) with different conditions. The volumetric strain of SWCC was modified based on the shrinkage test, and the corresponding fitting equations considering different factors were established. The results show that the volumetric water content is modified to consider the volume shrinkage effect of expansive soil, and the modification is more obvious in the high matric suction range. The smaller the initial dry density is, the worse the water‐holding capacity of the sample is, and the smaller the air intake value is. The greater the time of the dry‐wet cycle is, the greater the saturated volumetric water content of the sample is, and the corresponding water‐holding capacity is significantly reduced. When the dry‐wet cycle increases to a certain extent, the structure becomes stable. With the increase of the freeze‐thaw cycle, the saturated volumetric water content first decreases and then increases. Similarly, after several times of the freeze‐thaw cycle, the structure is basically stable. The fitted Gardner model equations under different conditions were proved to be able to describe the SWCCs of the two targeted expansive soils.