 General Statement – giving some background information to introduce the reader to the subject

area and showing that the general research area is important

 More specific statements – narrowing the area of study, introducing and reviewing items of
previous research in the area
 A gap in the research – indicating a gap in the previous research, raising a question about it
 How you will fill the research gap – outlining purpose or stating the nature of the present
research, indicating the structure of the research report

1. Introduction

1.1. The nature of loess

The loess is formed of quartz silt grains which are link together by the agents such as clay, fine silt or
cappillary water. These connections could disappear in the case of the loading or wetting, due to the
connectors will fail under shear stress. When these changes in the grain arrangement are formed, the soil
structure collapses. Also, the collapse results may produce a variety of hazards, such as the collapse of the
soil in urban areas, as well as the creation of bumps in the case of roads, railways, but also the
deterioration of infrastructures. The aims for most of the geotechnical researches are based on
investigation of the mechanism of collapse and to try to controll and use this factors in order to mitigate
the impacts after collapse.
Around 10% of the world’s land surface is covered by loess and loess-like deposits. (Schultz & Frye,
1968). The area covered by loess is extending from West Europe to China and covers most of the
continets, such as North and South America, Central Africa, New Zealand and Australia. In general, loess
is that type of land which provides a significant arable land for agriculture and other materials used for
industries. For instance, in China, loess represents a vital economic for the rice Chinese agriculture and
provides a continuous growth that help to develop the country until present day.
In Romania, loess represents about 17% of the land surface and in China the occupied area of land is
around 631 000 km2. Also, China is the country with the greatest bulk accumulation of loess from the
Earth and with the highest thickness of loess layers. (T.S., X.F., & Y.X., 1985). Loess was formed in
Quaternary age. It is considered that the loess was formed through derived of unstratified wind deposits,
with medium grain size silts. Loess can be considered as one of the most difficult foundation soils, due to
its pottential callapsibility. Its bulk densities is low but with high porosities due to that its deposited is
through free fall. Likewise, loess mineralogy is generally simple, quartz is dominant together with
ancillary feldspars and micas. Silt, which is the main component of loess is conclude from bedrock
through a complex processes such as glacial grinding, weathering, comminution and faulting. The wind
represents the most important factor of silt for transport.
THE PROJECT WITH LOESS FROM CHINA

1.2. Aims and Objectives

1.3. The structure of the project