Strength Deterioration of Strongly Altered Granite Under Varying Water Content and Seepage Pressure: Experimental Insights for Reservoir Slope Stability

Abstract

Reservoir landslides pose a persistent threat to the safe operation of hydropower projects, particularly where altered rock masses within water-level fluctuation zones undergo repeated wetting–drying and seepage-induced deterioration. This study investigates the mechanical behavior and long-term strength evolution of altered granite from the Guobu Slope near the Laxiwa Arch Dam in Qinghai, China. Rock masses with four alteration degrees, ranging from complete to slight alteration, were examined through an integrated experimental program involving torsional shear tests, hydro-mechanical coupled triaxial tests, large-scale direct shear and ring shear tests, Brazilian splitting tests, and long-term P-wave velocity monitoring. The results demonstrate that increasing water content progressively weakens the shear strength of altered granite, while elevated seepage pressure further reduces its strength and deformation resistance under hydro-mechanical coupling. Residual shear behavior also shows a clear dependence on water content, indicating that post-peak strength deterioration should be considered in slope stability assessment. Long-term P-wave monitoring further reveals that mechanical degradation is more pronounced during the early stage and gradually approaches a relatively stable state, suggesting a site-specific decelerating deterioration process rather than unlimited strength loss. Based on the experimental results, empirical relationships between shear-strength parameters and water content are established, and long-term lower-bound strength parameters are proposed for altered granite with different degrees of alteration. These findings provide experimental support for understanding the hydro-mechanical deterioration and long-term deformation behavior of reservoir-bank altered rock masses and offer a basis for parameter selection and stability assessment when combined with rock-mass reduction, field calibration, and sensitivity analysis.