Cracking in drying soils

Morris, P. H.; Graham, J.; Williams, David J.

doi:10.1139/t92-030

Cited by 454 publications

(275 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

236

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It is found that soil fabric, particle cementation, water content and void ratio are altered significantly (Cuisinier and Masrouri 2005;Rao and Revanasiddappa 2006;Tripathy et al 2009;Tovar and Colmenares 2011;Sun and Huang 2015). These effects lead to the formation of cracks as well as the development of fissures in soils, which significantly increase soil compressibility and hydraulic conductivity and consequently decrease the overall structural strength and stability (Morris et al 1992;Albrecht and Benson 2001;Pires et al 2008;Li et al 2009;. Several researchers also reported that the impact of the first drying-wetting cycle on soil structure is D r a f t 2 greatest and decreases with subsequent cycles (Basma et al 1996;Tripathy et al 2002;Leij et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) relaxometry

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Due to the formational environment and climatic variability, granite residual soils with grain-size distribution ranging from gravel to clay undergo multiple drying–wetting cycles. The influences of multiple drying–wetting cycles on the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and pore-size distribution (POSD) of undisturbed granite residual soils are investigated using the pressure plate test and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T2) distribution measurement, respectively. Results show that the water-retention capacity and air-entry value decrease and pores become more uniform with increasing drying–wetting cycles. After four drying–wetting cycles, the soil reaches a nearly constant state. The POSD change of multiple drying–wetting cycle samples is consistent with the SWCC of the soils. Furthermore, a modified van Genuchten model in terms of cumulative pore volume is used to obtain the best-fit POSD of the drying–wetting cycle samples. The shape and changing tendency of both curves of SWCC and POSD are quite similar and achieved a better correlation. It can be concluded that the SWCC is strongly dependent on the POSD of the soil and NMR T2 relaxometry can be used as an alternative to the assessment of microstructural variation of residual soils subjected to the periodic drying and wetting process.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) relaxometry

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This common surface phenomenon is a special case of invasion by an immiscible fluid, where air invades water-saturated sediment. Desiccation cracks typically nucleate at the surface (in homogeneous sediments) and propagate both laterally and vertically, forming vertical planes (Morris et al, 1992;Konrad & Ayad, 1997;Rodriguez et al, 2007;Thusyanthan et al, 2007;Shin & Santamarina, 2011). (d) Ice and methane hydrate lenses ( Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open-mode discontinuities in soils

Shin

Santamarina

2011

Géotechnique Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The formation of open-mode discontinuities is a common occurrence in soils. This family of discontinuities includes hydraulic fractures, gas-driven fractures, desiccation cracks, ice and hydrate lenses, and even roots. These discontinuities can be analysed at the particle scale or at the macroscale using constitutive models that are consistent with the effective stress-dependent behaviour of soils. Both analyses show that the medium is in compression everywhere and that growth is intimately related to unloading and expansion ahead of the tip. While these observations appear to be common to the development of all open-mode fractures in soils, there are pronounced invasion differences between miscible fluids and immiscible phases. INTRODUCTIONThe analysis of open-mode discontinuities in soils, such as hydraulic fractures and desiccation cracks, is typically based on concepts derived from equivalent-continuum fracture mechanics, sometimes adjusted to account for various aspects of soil behaviour. However, this approach fails to recognise the inherent particulate nature of soils. In this context, the concept of fracture formation in a fully fractured medium is not immediately obvious. Furthermore, an effective stress tensile failure is impossible in cohesionless granular materials, and total stress analyses do not contribute physical understanding to the process.The mechanical analysis of open-mode discontinuities leads to an important first distinction pertaining to the miscibility of the invading fluid with the defending fluid that saturates the soil. Except for 'classical' hydraulic fracture, all the following examples refer to an immiscible invading phase (Fig. 1).(a) Fractures driven by the invasion of a miscible fluid ( Fig. 1(a)). This is the case of 'classical' hydraulic fractures in near-surface geotechnical applications, such as dams, where the invading fluid (e.g. water) is miscible with the saturating fluid (e.g. water). In general, these fractures develop normal to the least principal stress unless pronounced stratigraphic features play a dominant role (Bjerrum et al., 1972;Jaworski et al., 1981;de Pater et al., 1994). Fluid leakoff normal to the fracture planes is proportional to the permeability of the medium. (b) Fractures driven by the invasion of an immiscible fluid (Figs 1(b) and 1(c)). Gas invasion into water-saturated sediments or the forced invasion of water into oilsaturated reservoirs may cause open-mode discontinuities. There is no seepage or leak-off of the invading fluid into the formation normal to the fracture faces (end-member case) and the fracture advances normal to the minimum stress direction in homogeneous sediments. (c) Desiccation cracks ( Fig. 1(d) (Fig. 1(e)). The literature on frozen ground and the more recent publications on methane hydrate report extensively on ice and hydrate lenses found in fine-grained sediments. Ice lenses in near-surface frozen ground are temperature controlled and lenses align parallel to the isothermal front rather than normal to the minimum effectiv...

show abstract

“…We assume the existence of a tension cut-off expressed in terms of a minimum mean effective stress. This is a variation, expressed in terms of effective stress, of the work of Morris et al [Morris et al (1992)]. The surface that represents this failure mechanism is expressed at equation 11 and visible in Fig.…”

Section: Mechanical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of the Drying Behavior of Resorcinol Formaldehyde Hydrogels: Experimental Investigation and Numerical Framework

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper, we present the method used to investigate the drying behavior of the Resorcinol (R) formaldehyde (F) hydrogels and the tools needed for its numerical modeling. First, the studied material is introduced. Then the experiments are briefly presented and some preliminary results are given. Drying tests have been first carried out to characterize the drying kinetics of RF hydrogels. The experiments are used to calibrate the transfer parameters of a convective drying law based on the boundary layer model [Gerard et al. (2010)]. Ultimately, the goal is to model the Hydromechanical behavior of the RF gels during drying and predict crack genesis. To do so, a thermohydro-mechanical coupled model including a tensile failure criterion is suggested. The tensile failure criterion is based on the existence of a tension cut-off expressed in terms of a minimum mean effective stress. INTRODUCTIONProduction of carbon aerogels by CO 2 supercritical drying of resorcinol (R) formaldehyde (F) hydrogels followed by pyrolysis has been studied since their introduction by Pekala [Pekala (1989)]. Their large mesopore volumes and high specific surface areas make them interesting for many potential applications such as adsorbents for gas separation, catalysts supports, etc [Job (2006)]. Supercritical drying is not applicable at an industrial scale because of technical and safety reasons. Some other methods to produce an aerogel-like mesoporous texture have been tested and it has been shown that it is possible to produce porous resorcinolformaldehyde xerogels by using atmospheric convective drying ]. Since crack-free monoliths are required, the hydraulic and mechanical properties of the RF hydrogels and their evolution with water content are essential to model their thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior during convective drying and avoid cracking. This paper aims at presenting the methods used to investigate the drying behavior of the RF hydrogels and at introducing the hydromechanical model which will be use to simulate it.

show abstract

Cracking in drying soils

Cited by 454 publications

References 21 publications

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) relaxometry

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) relaxometry

Open-mode discontinuities in soils

Study of the Drying Behavior of Resorcinol Formaldehyde Hydrogels: Experimental Investigation and Numerical Framework

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Cracking in drying soils

Cited by 454 publications

References 21 publications

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T2) relaxometry

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T2) relaxometry

Open-mode discontinuities in soils

Study of the Drying Behavior of Resorcinol Formaldehyde Hydrogels: Experimental Investigation and Numerical Framework

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) relaxometry

Influence of drying–wetting cycles on soil-water characteristic curve of undisturbed granite residual soils and microstructure mechanism by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-spin relaxation time (T₂) relaxometry