Abstract:Coal-bearing soil is prone to strength degradation due to weathering, which can lead to slope instability. Taking a coal-bearing soil slope of an expressway in Guangdong as the background, and based on a strength deterioration model established through the microwave simulation weathering tests, the finite element strength reduction method is used to analyze the variation patterns of slope displacement and safety factor under different weathering depths (0.5~2.0 m). The results indicate that when the weathering depth increases from 1.0 m to 1.5 m, the safety factor decreases the largest by approximately 18%, and when the weathering degree increases from E1 to E2, the safety factor decreases by 38.2%, which shows that the weathering degree has a more significant impact on the stability. The simulation results agree well with actual monitoring data, verifying the reliability of the model and providing a theoretical basis for the protective design of coal-bearing soil slopes.