In order to understand the hydrological process of expansive soil slopes, simulated rainfall experiments were conducted to study the effects of slope gradient and initial soil moisture content on runoff and infiltration for expansive soil slopes located in south China. The field program consisted of four neighboring slopes (70%, 47%, 32%, and 21%) instrumented by a runoff collection system and moisture content sensors (EC-5). Results from the monitored tests indicate that there was delay in the response of surface runoff. The runoff initiation time decreased with initial soil water content and increasing slope gradient. After the generation of runoff, the cumulative runoff per unit area and the runoff rate increased linearly and logarithmically with time, respectively. The greater the initial soil moisture content was, the smaller the influence of slope gradient on runoff. A rainfall may contribute from 39% to about 100% of its total rainfall as infiltration, indicating that infiltration remained an important component of the rainwater falling on the slope, despite the high initial soil water content. The larger the initial sealing degree of slope surface was the smaller the cumulative infiltration per unit area of the slope. However, the soil moisture reaction was more obvious. The influence of inclination is no longer discernible at high initial moisture levels. The greater the initial soil moisture content and the smaller the slope gradient, the weaker was the change of soil water content caused by simulated rainfall. The influence of initial soil moisture content and slope gradient on the processes of flow and changes of soil water content identified in this study may be helpful in the surface water control for expansive soil slopes.

Calcareous sand is widespread around Nansha Islands, South China Sea. In oceanic and coastal engineering, calcareous sand is usually used as a building foundation and backfill material for airport runway embankments. The engineering characteristics of calcareous sand is different from terrigenous sand because of its irregular grain shape, lower particle strength, and internal voids, which have caused many engineering problems in the last decades. Cement‐stabilized soil, as a common foundation reinforcement method, can solve these engineering problems and improve the foundation strength effectively. Therefore, it is very important to estimate the engineering characteristics of cement‐stabilized calcareous sand foundations. In this paper, the basic engineering characteristics, bearing capacity, and deformational behavior of calcareous sand were studied by carrying out a series of tests on cement‐stabilized calcareous sand. It is found that: (1) the uniaxial compression strength of calcareous sand is higher than that of Guangzhou soft soil but lower than that of filter medium quartz sand; (2) the deformation of the calcareous sand under compression is mainly plastic, and the elastic deformation gradually increases with increasing cement content; (3) the apparent cohesion of calcareous sand increases, while internal friction angle decreases with increasing cement content; (4) cement‐stabilized method can significantly improve the bearing capacity of calcareous sand foundation, especially for the saturated state. A cement content equal to or more than 15% and a thickness of 1/8 of the foundation can effectively improve the bearing capacity of the foundation; and (5) the ultimate bearing capacity of the foundation by numerical calculation is higher than that by experiments, while the settlement by calculating is lower.

By using the high‐temperature and high‐pressure triaxial apparatus, 81 undrained triaxial shearing tests of GMZ bentonite were carried out, and the effects of temperature, confining pressure, water content, and dry density on the deformation and strength characteristics of GMZ bentonite were systematically analyzed. Five results are presented in this paper: (1) confining pressure and dry density have a great influence on the failure forms of GMZ bentonite; under the nonconfined pressure condition, the failure forms of the specimen are brittle failure, and it is the same with high dry density, but the specimens with low dry density and high confining pressure exhibit plastic failure; (2) the strength of GMZ bentonite decreases with increasing water content; the position of the deviator stress‐axial strain curve under low dry density rises with the increase of temperature, whereas the location of the curve under high dry density decreases with the rise of temperature; (3) initial Young’s modulus rises with increasing temperature under low dry density, but it is on the contrary under high dry density; with rising water content, initial Young’s modulus generally decreases; (4) Poisson’s ratio rises with rising temperature. The effect of dry density and water content on Poisson’s ratio is insignificant; and (5) the formulae of cohesion and internal friction angle of GMZ bentonite with the changing dry density, water content, and temperature are proposed, respectively. The research results of this paper provide a scientific basis for analyzing the thermo‐hydro‐mechanical coupling characteristics of buffer materials.