Mechanics of Hard Soils and Soft Rocks

硬土和软岩是从软岩向软土演化的过渡性材料。它们在澳大利亚很普遍，典型的例子包括泥岩、泥岩、页岩和凝灰岩。这些材料很难处理，主要是因为它们的强度、硬度和体积会随着环境作用(如循环润湿和干燥)而发生很大变化。对这些材料的过渡行为进行正确的预测，对于分析基于这些材料的土木结构的稳定性和使用性能至关重要。该项目旨在开发一种理论和实践框架，用于描述硬土和软岩的过渡行为。

Hard soils and soft rocks are transitional materials that have properties evolving from soft rock to soft soil. They are widespread in Australia and typical examples include mudstone, claystones, shales and tuffs. These materials are very difficult to handle, mainly due to the fact that their strength, stiffness and volume can change substantially in response to environmental actions such as cyclic wetting and drying. Proper prediction of the transitional behaviour of these materials is crucially important for analysing the stability and serviceability of civil structures founded on them. This project aims to develop a theoretical and practical framework for characterising the transitional behaviour of hard soils and soft rocks.