A study on the feasibility of using centrifugal model test to simulate in-situ soaking test on loess

Data was analyzed about the engineering practice for the foundation of the diversion canal which is in Yili region of Xinjiang Province. Tsinghua University geotechnical centrifuge was used to saturate the undisturbed loess (with a natural water content) and perform the centrifugal model test. The undisturbed loess becomes stabilized after the step-loading increased to 60 g and then becomes saturated at a constant acceleration. Thus collapsibility by single-line method was obtained. The differences of collapsibility between the saturated loess foundation and foundation with a natural water content with the same thickness were calculated to obtain collapsibility by double-line method. Results show that foundation collapsibility results calculated by single-line method and double-line method are similar, demonstrating that the two methods have little influences on collapse deformation. The collapsibility results obtained from centrifugal model test is close to the on-site results, validating the feasibility of using centrifugal model test to simulate in-situ soaking test on loess.