Development and application of weathering test apparatus for rockfill

A new device called weathering test apparatus for rockfill is developed to investigate the mechanical characteristics of rockfill under the coupling action of drying-wetting cycles,cooling-heating cycles and vertical loading.The apparatus includes the vertical loading unit,horizontal loading unit,drying-wetting cycle unit,cooling-heating cycle unit,and data acquisition unit.The novel design of the cooling-heating cycle unit facilitates rapid change of temperature and can provide a uniform temperature filed in the rockfill specimens.An elementary test is performed under the coupling action of drying-wetting cycles,cooling-heating cycles and vertical loading to verify the validity of the apparatus.The results show that the cycles coupled with wet-cool-dry-heat impose a remarkable degrade strain for the rockfill under loading.