Study on Barriers of Water Salt Transfers in Earthen Sites by Plastic-Coated Sand

Under the action of unidirectional water migration, museum soil sites generally encounter erosion through dry cracking, salt enrichment, etc. In this paper, the earthen site of the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum of the First Emperor of Qin was used as the research object, and the “hydrophobic” property of coated sand was proposed to prevent water migration and salt accumulation. Through the soil column experiment of water salt migration and the HYDRUS software numerical simulation, the water salt migration law of the soil in the heritage site under different conditions and the characteristics of water and salt resistance of plastic-coated sand were studied. The results showed that the salt damage on the earthen ruins was mainly due to the horizontal and vertical migration of water and salt in soil. After embedding the coated sand layer into the soil environment under the earthen site, the vertical and horizontal migration of water and salt in the soil can be completely prevented due to precipitation and groundwater. The coated sand protection technology and method proposed in this paper use materials similar to those of the earthen, and provide a feasible method for the protection of cultural relics in our country.