{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T14:14:52Z","timestamp":1789827292811,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,21]],"date-time":"2023-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1689897600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["52108401"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52108401"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["202208070060"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202208070060"]}]},{"name":"China Scholarship Council","award":["52108401"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52108401"]}]},{"name":"China Scholarship Council","award":["202208070060"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202208070060"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To investigate the strength and failure characteristics of silty mudstone using different stress paths, silt-like mudstone specimens were subjected to triaxial unloading tests. The results indicate the following. (1) When subjected to equivalent initial deviator stress levels and differing confining pressures, the peak stress, residual stress, and elastic modulus, exhibited during unloading, increased concordantly with greater initial confining pressure. Both the peak strain and residual strain increased with rising initial confining pressure. The increase in peak strain and residual strain initially decelerated, then noticeably increased, before ultimately decreasing again. Additionally, the unloading failure time and strain rate demonstrated a negative correlation as the confining pressure increased. (2) Under different initial deviatoric stress conditions, the peak stress, residual stress, and residual strain, under unloading confining pressure conditions, decreased as the initial deviatoric stress levels elevated. Conversely, the peak strain and elastic modulus initially increased, then decreased under increasing initial deviatoric stress conditions. The unloading failure time and strain rate were both observed to decrease as the initial deviatoric stress levels increased. (3) Utilizing the Mohr stress circle enabled the characterization of the shear strength variation in the specimens during the unloading process. The cohesion and internal friction angle remained relatively consistent across the different unloading stress paths appraised, with cohesion being greater in path I versus path II, whereas the internal friction angle exhibited an inverse relationship. (4) The specimen failed during unloading due to lateral expansion caused by unloading confining pressure and collapse failure. The failure fracture surfaces predominantly manifested shear failure morphologies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma16145155","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,24]],"date-time":"2023-07-24T01:15:45Z","timestamp":1690161345000},"page":"5155","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Study on the Strength and Failure Characteristics of Silty Mudstone Using Different Unloading Paths"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jijing","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hualin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IMT Nord Europe, University Lille, F-59000 Lille, France"},{"name":"ULR 4515-LGCgE Laboratoire de G\u00e9nie Civil et G\u00e9o-Environnement, JUNIA, University Artois, F-59000 Lille, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuangxing","family":"Qi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hanbing","family":"Bian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IMT Nord Europe, University Lille, F-59000 Lille, France"},{"name":"ULR 4515-LGCgE Laboratoire de G\u00e9nie Civil et G\u00e9o-Environnement, JUNIA, University Artois, F-59000 Lille, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Biao","family":"Long","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinbo","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"16","article-title":"A study of the effect of strain rate on stiffness and strength in silty mudstone using multistage triaxial testing","volume":"2005","author":"Omar","year":"2005","journal-title":"Post-Min."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"196","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijrmms.2006.06.004","article-title":"The Mechanical Behaviour of Weak Mudstone (Opalinus Clay) at Low Stresses","volume":"44","author":"Corkum","year":"2007","journal-title":"Int. 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