Compacted soil is widely used in road and railway subgrade, while alternation of seasons can cause fluctuations in moisture content of soil (i.e., wetting-drying cycles) and influence the performance of soil. In order to research the effect of wetting-drying cycles on mechanical behaviour and electrical resistivity of compacted unsaturated subgrade soil, wetting-drying tests considering different number and cyclic amplitude were conducted on compacted unsaturated clay specimens, and the electrical resistivity and unconfined compressive strength of soil were measured in this study. The AC (alternative current) two-electrode method was applied in the resistivity measurement. The experimental results show that increasing number and cyclic amplitude of wetting-drying cycles can both reduce the strength and electrical resistivity of the compacted unsaturated specimens. After 3-4 wetting-drying cycles, the strength and electrical resistivity tend to be constant value. The change of pore structure can be the key factor leading to the reduction of electrical resistivity of soil subjected to wetting-drying cycles and consequently causing the decrease of soil strength in the present study. Thus, the electrical resistivity can be adopted to indirectly assess the mechanical behaviour of unsaturated compacted soil after wetting-drying cycles.

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Expansive soil is used as a high-plastic clay, the bearing capacity is gradually attenuated due to the penetration of water, which greatly limits the application range of practical engineering. In this paper, the permeability and expansibility test of remolded soil and undisturbed soil in expansive soil were carried out. Ability coefficient of remolded soil and undisturbed soil under different overburden values was compared and analyzed. Overburden load, head height and water content were studied. The effect of the rate on the permeability coefficient of remolded soil and further analysis of the expansion and expansion forces at different initial moisture contents The results show that the permeability coefficient of remolded soil and undisturbed soil decreases with the increase of overlying load. As the water content increases, the permeability coefficient decreases first within a certain range. After reaching a certain level, the permeability coefficient gradually increases. As the initial water content increases, the amount of expansion progressive decreases and the expansion force progressive decreases.

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