Study on the cohesive shear characteristics and intrinsic modelling of the root–tailing soil interface of Amorpha fruticosa

To study the soil consolidation effect of shrub plant roots on tailings soil and to explore the frictional characteristics of plant roots on tailings soil, three experimental conditions of the root–soil interface were established by using a modified indoor direct shear instrument with binders such as liquid sodium silicate and cyanoacrylate to conduct direct shear frictional tests at the root–soil interface using the roots of the typical slope protection plant Amorpha fruticosa. The Gompertz improved curve model was established by using the relationship between shear stress and shear displacement and the trend of the root–soil interface parameter index. The results were compared between the improved Gompertz curve model and the Clough–Duncan hyperbolic model, and a two-factor coupled improved Gompertz interfacial intrinsic structure model with normal stress and cohesive strength factor was established. The results showed that the interface shear stress and shear displacement showed strain hardening characteristics at different normal pressures for cohesive strength ratios of 1.5 and 1.7 at the root–tailing soil interface. At a cohesive strength ratio of 1.6, strain-softening was observed from 100 to 300 kPa and strain hardening was observed at 400 kPa. The improved Gompertz curve model predicts the shear stress and shear displacement curves at the root–soil interface with different cohesive strengths more reasonably than the Clough–Duncan hyperbolic model, and the maximum accuracy can be improved by nearly 40%. The two-factor coupled improved Gompertz curve model can fit the shear stress versus shear displacement relationship at the A. fruticosa root–tailing soil interface.