PONE-D-21-11948

Deterioration Characteristics of Cement-Improved Loess under Dry–wet and Freeze–thaw Cycles

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Ni,

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PLOS ONE

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We note that one or more of the authors are employed by a commercial company: Shaanxi XiHan Intercity Railway Co., Ltd and Shaanxi XiFa (North line) Intercity Railway Co., Ltd

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: No

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: No

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: In this paper, the strength degradation of Cement Improved Loess formed by vertical vibration method under dry-wet and freeze-thaw cycles is studied, and the degradation equation and degradation coefficient are proposed. The overall structure is complete, with good logic and detailed test data. But there are several problems：

1) Some sentences need to be considered, such as vertical vibration compaction method (VVCM) molding cement improved loess, the reliability of the method is evaluated, what method is evaluated?

2) The research status of Cement Improved Loess at home and abroad needs to be further understood and mastered.

3) Describe about the experimental case study in more detail.

4) The graphic information of vertical vibration compactor has been reflected in the corresponding references. Is it necessary to add it?

5) Some English abbreviations appearing for the first time in this paper need to be described in detail.

6) Part of the language needs to be further refined.

7) The data points in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 should be further analyzed and explained.

8) The format of the paper should be arranged according to the requirements of the journal.

9) The analysis of the results and the discussion part is not deep enough and needs further analysis.

Reviewer #2: This paper studies the strength degradation of Cement Improved Loess formed by vertical vibration method under dry-wet and freeze-thaw cycles, which has good logic and detailed test data. The research topic has a certain engineering application value. Suggestions:

1) The research status of Cement Improved Loess at home and abroad needs to be further understood and mastered.

2) The fitting equations in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are best presented in tabular form.

3) The meaning of R2 in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 needs to be explained.

4) The quality of English needs improving.

5) Language and writing should be concise.

6) The format shall meet the requirements of periodical format.

7) To facilitate readers to understand the test process, please add test photos of VVCM and QSCM.

8) Please add some results analysis for table 3 and table 4.

Reviewer #3: In this manuscript, based on dry–wet cycle and freeze–thaw cycle tests, the deterioration characteristics of mechanical strength for cement-improved loess has been studied. This work is interesting. However, the studies are very poor and low. Moreover, there are many serious defects in this paper.

The main comments are as follows,

1. The English is very poor and there are many language errors. I think it should be edited by one native speaker before it is submitted.

2. The section 1 is very bad and should be rewritten. The previous studies should be analyzed more comprehensively and deeply. And the objective of this paper should be provided clearly.

3. Line 89, what is SCL?

4. Line 91, what is CSL?

5. Line 95, what is VVTE?

6. Line 98, I do not know why those References have been provided here.

7. Lines 83 and 102, I think the specifications can be provided as the References.

8. Line 127, "for the specified number of rimes". is it right?

9. Line 144, there is a wrong. "Error! Reference source not found.."

10. In subsection 3.1.1, I think the test results should be described clearly before the table 3.

11. Lines 223-224, "The deterioration coefficient of CIL after the freeze–thaw cycle can be calculated using equation (2)." is it right?

12. Line 240, "Based on Table 3,", is it right?

13. The studies in section 3 are too low and simple. I think deep analysis should be conducted and the test results should be verified.

14. There are only four international papers in the Reference list. For one international manuscript, I think more international papers should be included in the Reference list.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: renamed_1a283.docx

Deterioration Characteristics of Cement-Improved Loess under Dry–wet and Freeze–thaw Cycles

PONE-D-21-11948R1

Dear Dr. Ni,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Ahmed Mancy Mosa, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The issues raised have been resolved and corrected. The article describes the strength degradation of cement-improved loess under dry, wet and freeze-thaw conditions. The research has a certain degree of innovation, which provides a great reference for engineering practice and can be accepted for publication in journals.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No