Reply to comments by Zoran Berisavljević on “Analysis of the effect of freeze–thaw cycles on the degradation of mechanical parameters and slope stability”, Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, DOI: 10.1007/s10064-017-1013-8

Excerpt

The authors would like to express their thanks to Zoran Berisavljević for his interest in our paper and the related comments. In this reply we present our explanations, which we hope will help to clarify the points raised in the comments. With the increase in geotechnical engineering in cold regions, the issue of the effect of freeze–thaw cycles has gained more and more attention. Thus, we focused on the effect of freeze–thaw cycles on the degradation of mechanical parameters and slope stability. There were three objectives for the original paper. The first was to conduct the freeze–thaw cycle test and uniaxial compressive strength tests. The second was to analyze the degradation of the mechanical parameters of rocks. The third was to analyze rock slope stability under the influence of freeze–thaw cycles. The comment by Mr. Berisavljević mainly addressed the third objective, and its focus was on the zone of freeze–thaw influence in numerical analysis. We read with interest his comment on our original paper. Indeed, with his excellent findings, his work has added much value to our research, and his work underscores our previous work regarding slope stability analysis. …