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Hydrostructural and dynamic characteristics of compacted Nanning red clay considering wetting-drying impacts
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  • Published: 01 March 2026

Hydrostructural and dynamic characteristics of compacted Nanning red clay considering wetting-drying impacts

  • Sen Deng1 na1,
  • Hongri Zhang2 na1,
  • Jian Wei3,
  • Kaike Huang3,
  • Yanxin Song1,
  • Hongming Li2,
  • Youjun Li2 &
  • …
  • Zhong Han4 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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Subjects

  • Environmental impact
  • Geodynamics
  • Solid Earth sciences

Abstract

Lateritic soils, also known as red soils, are prone to actions of external environment such as wetting and drying processes and their cycling. However, in the practice of pavement design in red soil regions, there lacks experimental studies and analytical approaches to reveal and predict the evolution of the hydromechanical characteristics of red soils under complex environmental actions. This paper investigates the variation in the hydrostructural and dynamic characteristics of a compacted subgrade red clay collected from Nanning, Guangxi, China, before and after wetting-drying cycles. The pore structure and soil-water characteristics of the red clay before and after ten wetting-drying cycles were determined to reveal the influences of moisture fluctuation history. Besides, cyclic triaxial tests were performed to determine the resilient modulus (MR) and permanent strain (εp) of the red clay and reveal the influences of external stress, moisture content w, suction s, and WD cycles. It is found that (i) compacted red clay presents typical dual porosity with distinct inter-aggregate and intra-aggregate pores. Such pore structure results in bimodal soil water retention curves (SWRCs) of the red clay; (ii) upon wetting-drying cycles, the intra-aggregate pores shrink while the inter-aggregate pores swell. Besides, the global pore space (i.e., the overall void ratio) increases after WD cycles. This results in the elimination of the SWRC’s bimodal characteristics and the reduction in the clay’s water retention capacity in the low suction range and scale of shrinkage upon drying; (iii) the εp and MR vary non-linearly with σd, w, and s. Their relationships to the external stress and soil moisture change remarkably after WD cycles. A simple model was adopted to describe the variations of the εp and MR with w and s, which has achieved close agreements with the experimental measurements; (iv) the εp and MR of the tested red clay show a unique non-linear relationship regardless of the influences of σd, w, s, and WD cycles, which highlights possible intrinsic relationships between the elastic and plastic behaviors of compacted subgrade soils.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article. Data will be made available upon request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

Studies presented in this paper were sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 42477143, 52378365), Guangxi Key Research & Development Program (Grant No. AB23075184), Guangxi Major Talent Program and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2042025kf0021).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Sen Deng and Hongri Zhang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanning Expressway Construction & Development Co., Ltd., Nanning, 530007, Guangxi, China

    Sen Deng & Yanxin Song

  2. Guangxi Transportation Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd., Nanning, 530007, Guangxi, China

    Hongri Zhang, Hongming Li & Youjun Li

  3. Guangxi Nanning Second Ring Highway Co., Ltd., Nanning, 530007, Guangxi, China

    Jian Wei & Kaike Huang

  4. School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, China

    Zhong Han

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Contributions

S Deng and H Zhang (equally): Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Writing—original draft; J Wei: Conceptualization, Validation, Investigation; K Huang: Project administration, Writing—review & editing; Y Song: Supervision, Methodology; H Li and Y Li (equally): Methodology, Formal analysis, Validation; Z Han: Conceptualization, Supervision, Methodology, Review & editing, Funding acquisition.

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Deng, S., Zhang, H., Wei, J. et al. Hydrostructural and dynamic characteristics of compacted Nanning red clay considering wetting-drying impacts. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41777-9

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  • Received: 25 January 2025

  • Accepted: 23 February 2026

  • Published: 01 March 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41777-9

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Keywords

  • Compacted red soil
  • Pore structure
  • Water retention curve
  • Dynamic responses
  • Moisture content
  • Wetting-drying cycles
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