Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research

Abstract It is of great significance to study the mechanical properties of plant roots and root-soil interactions on the effect of root consolidation. In order to study the mechanical effects of herbaceous plant root systems on the slopes of the Haizhou open-pit mine, Medicagosativa L.( Species 1),...

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Main Authors: Shilin Tan, Guoping Xiang, Xiangning Xu, Tao Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09581-z
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author Shilin Tan
Guoping Xiang
Xiangning Xu
Tao Liu
author_facet Shilin Tan
Guoping Xiang
Xiangning Xu
Tao Liu
author_sort Shilin Tan
collection DOAJ
description Abstract It is of great significance to study the mechanical properties of plant roots and root-soil interactions on the effect of root consolidation. In order to study the mechanical effects of herbaceous plant root systems on the slopes of the Haizhou open-pit mine, Medicagosativa L.( Species 1), Iris lactea Pall. var.chinensis (Fisch.) Koidz.( Species 2), and Euphorbia hypericifolia L.( Species 3) were taken as the research objects to carry out indoor root tensile tests, in situ shear tests, quantitatively calculated the additional cohesive force of the root system with Wu and FBM models, compare the applicability of the two models, and the Wu model was modified to compare the soil consolidation effects of different plant root systems; A simplified slope numerical model was used to investigate the shallow damage protection effect of rooted slopes with the same root area ratio. The results showed that (1) the tensile strength of the root systems of the three herbaceous plants increased with the root diameter in a power function relationship, and the tensile strength decreased with the root diameter in a power function relationship; (2) The Wu modification coefficients of Species 1, Species 2, and Species 3 were 0.17, 0.15, and 0.58, respectively. Comparing the modification coefficients of the three herbaceous plants, Species 3 had the largest modification coefficients; Species 1 was the second largest, and Species 2 had the smallest modification coefficients; the actual increment in cohesive force was close to that in the FBM model, and the FBM model was significantly better than the Wu model; (3) The mechanical and morphological properties of Species 3 made its root system consolidation effect the greatest compared with Species 1 and Species 2 root-soil interaction.
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language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
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spelling doaj-art-5721d8c75d3c44b8b4e6885041f3049f2025-08-20T03:46:08ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-09581-zMechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability researchShilin Tan0Guoping Xiang1Xiangning Xu2Tao Liu3The 2nd Geological Brigade Of SichuanThe 2nd Geological Brigade Of SichuanThe 2nd Geological Brigade Of SichuanThe 2nd Geological Brigade Of SichuanAbstract It is of great significance to study the mechanical properties of plant roots and root-soil interactions on the effect of root consolidation. In order to study the mechanical effects of herbaceous plant root systems on the slopes of the Haizhou open-pit mine, Medicagosativa L.( Species 1), Iris lactea Pall. var.chinensis (Fisch.) Koidz.( Species 2), and Euphorbia hypericifolia L.( Species 3) were taken as the research objects to carry out indoor root tensile tests, in situ shear tests, quantitatively calculated the additional cohesive force of the root system with Wu and FBM models, compare the applicability of the two models, and the Wu model was modified to compare the soil consolidation effects of different plant root systems; A simplified slope numerical model was used to investigate the shallow damage protection effect of rooted slopes with the same root area ratio. The results showed that (1) the tensile strength of the root systems of the three herbaceous plants increased with the root diameter in a power function relationship, and the tensile strength decreased with the root diameter in a power function relationship; (2) The Wu modification coefficients of Species 1, Species 2, and Species 3 were 0.17, 0.15, and 0.58, respectively. Comparing the modification coefficients of the three herbaceous plants, Species 3 had the largest modification coefficients; Species 1 was the second largest, and Species 2 had the smallest modification coefficients; the actual increment in cohesive force was close to that in the FBM model, and the FBM model was significantly better than the Wu model; (3) The mechanical and morphological properties of Species 3 made its root system consolidation effect the greatest compared with Species 1 and Species 2 root-soil interaction.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09581-zSlope stabilityShear testWu and FBM modelsMechanical properties of root systemRoot area ratioRoot soil complex
spellingShingle Shilin Tan
Guoping Xiang
Xiangning Xu
Tao Liu
Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
Scientific Reports
Slope stability
Shear test
Wu and FBM models
Mechanical properties of root system
Root area ratio
Root soil complex
title Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
title_full Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
title_fullStr Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
title_full_unstemmed Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
title_short Mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
title_sort mechanical characteristics of herbaceous plant root system and slope stability research
topic Slope stability
Shear test
Wu and FBM models
Mechanical properties of root system
Root area ratio
Root soil complex
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09581-z
work_keys_str_mv AT shilintan mechanicalcharacteristicsofherbaceousplantrootsystemandslopestabilityresearch
AT guopingxiang mechanicalcharacteristicsofherbaceousplantrootsystemandslopestabilityresearch
AT xiangningxu mechanicalcharacteristicsofherbaceousplantrootsystemandslopestabilityresearch
AT taoliu mechanicalcharacteristicsofherbaceousplantrootsystemandslopestabilityresearch