To address the core challenge of the invisible and intangible failure mechanisms in geotechnical and underground engineering disasters, a highly automated, integrated, and visual multifunctional transparent soil model test system was independently developed. This system integrated the functions of automated mixing and vacuum-saturated preloading for preparing transparent soil materials, high-precision image acquisition and testing using laser imaging and CCD technology, and multi-functional modular testing. Based on this system, a series of model tests was conducted, including single pile penetration, strip footing loading, slope loading, and excavation of a super-shallowly buried large cross-section tunnel. The test results clearly reveal the following key patterns: the pattern of soil disturbance around the pile and at the pile tip during pile driving, which is dominated by soil properties; the pattern of internal soil displacement distribution at different burial depths under strip foundation loading; the pattern of sliding surface evolution throughout the slope failure process, and the characteristics of settlement concentration zone development and disturbance zone expansion caused by tunnel excavation. This test system possesses significant advantages, including being non-intrusive, non-intervening. It enables full-section and full-process observation and offers visualization and digital capabilities. The system provides a novel technical approach for revealing the failure mechanisms and developing prevention and control strategies for geotechnical and underground engineering disasters such as landslides, debris flows, tunnel collapses, and ground subsidence.