Research purposes: The analysis of the soaking condition and mechanism of the Loess under the real environment condition was made,the thicknesses of the saturated collapsible loess layers under most unfavorable natural and artificial environments were determined, and the soaking collapsible environments were graded according to the influence differences of the environment on the loess soaking.
Research conclusions: The real collapsible thickness of loess depends on a variety of factors and the major factor is the soaking condition. Under the concrete soaking condition, the thickness of saturated collapsible loess is controlled by the precipitation, penetration of surface water and rising of ground water. The experience and calculation show the most soaking thicknesses under natural environment are obviously less than the thickness of the collapsible loess. By taking the soaking collapsible thickness as the basis, the construction cost and works can be much reduced. The calculation and analysis of the soaking thickness under natural environment presented in this paper can give a new method and thinking on valuation of the loess collapsibility and grading the soaking environment.