Experimental characterization of shrinkage and desiccation cracking in thin clay layer

Tang, Chao‐Sheng; Shi, Bin; Liu, Chun; Suo, Wen-Bin; Gao, Lei

doi:10.1016/j.clay.2011.01.032

Cited by 309 publications

(145 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Based on his field observations, Weinberger (2001) assumed that most cracks start at or close to the bottom of the layer, propagate upwards and then horizontally. Something similar was noticed by Lakshmikantha et al (2013) Shin and Santamarina (2011) and (Tang et al, 2010b(Tang et al, , 2011 mentioned that cracks always start at the surface of the layer. What was observed during the experiments in this study is that the fractures might start anywhere along the depth of the layer (Figure 12).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…The effects on crack initiation of surface defects causing stress concentrations, such as the presence of coarse material, debris, or uneven surfaces, were also observed by Groisman and Kaplan (1994), Zabat et al (1997), Weinberger (1999) and Tang et al (2011). The influence of the surface defects was mainly noticeable in the plastic and metal containers.…”

Section: Fracture Development and Intersectionsmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Observations on the desiccation and cracking of clay layers

Tollenaar

Paassen

Jommi

2017

Engineering Geology

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Waterways and lakes in low-lying delta areas require regular dredging for maintenance. Often these sediments are placed on land, where they are allowed to ripen through a combination of drainage, consolidation and evaporation. When cracks develop during desiccation, the physical response of the soil is affected by changes in the overall strength, stiffness and permeability of the material. To better identify how cracks form and propagate, a series of tests was carried out in a controlled laboratory environment on samples of drying clay slurries under different initial and boundary conditions. The outcomes of this study indicate that the results from laboratory small scale models must be carefully analyzed, as they depend on the area and the thickness of the sample. However, common features from the different tests can be identified, which are mostly related to the intrinsic behavior of the material. For instance, the water content at which cracks initiate depends mostly on the drying rate and not only on the initial water content.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Fracture Development and Intersectionsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Observations on the desiccation and cracking of clay layers

Tollenaar

Paassen

Jommi

2017

Engineering Geology

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“…Like the laboratory tests [18], simulating cracking also took place in three stages: (1). A few primary cracks initiated randomly at the water content of 41.5% and propagated until they intersected with each other (Figure 3(a)-(c)).…”

Section: Comparison Between Dem and Experimental Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The laboratory experiment of thin clay layer by Tang et al [18] was chosen because the major material properties of the Romainville clay used in the tests could be found in literature [18][19][20]. The clay is considered to be a typical reactive soil with high swell shrink potential.…”

Section: Results Of Laboratory Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling desiccation cracking in thin clay layer using three-dimensional discrete element method

Sima

Jiang

Zhou

2013

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. Desiccation cracking of soils is of critical importance in many applications, such as industry wastes, hydraulic barriers, road embankments, and agriculture practice. This paper presented a numerical approach for modelling desiccation cracks in a thin clay layer with considering the changes in material properties during drying. Based on the micro-structure theory of clay, the swell and shrinkage behavior of clay could be explained by the swelling and shrinkage of aggregates. Therefore, an aggregates-shrinking model was proposed and its parameters were determined by matching the experimental data in literature. Then, the desiccation cracking of clay in plate shape was modeled by a three-dimensional discrete element code (PFC3D). The results obtained from the proposed numerical model had been compared with the experimental results in literature, which showed that the proposed DEM model can capture the initiation and propagation of cracks in a thin desiccated clay layer.

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“…The saturation degree decreases with time and soil shrinks producing cracks. Many authors have investigated the formation of these cracks; principally, these studies deal with experimental tests of cracking process controlling environmental conditions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, little research has been made in laboratory tests controlling all environmental variables at the same time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved climatic chamber for desiccation simulation

Lozada

Caicedo

Thorel³

2016

E3S Web Conf.

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Abstract. The climatic chamber at the Universidad de Los Andes was improved for modeling desiccation in soil layers. This chamber allows the measurement of different environmental variables. In this research, evaporation tests were conducted in water imposing boundary conditions for drying, and then these tests were performed in a soil layer. The soil was prepared from a slurry state and was drying controlling the temperature, the infrared radiation, the wind velocity, and the relative humidity. In the first part of this paper, a description of the climatic chamber, operation ranges and theoretical work principles of the climatic chamber are presented. Then, the second part shows the results for desiccation in water and soil. The desiccation tests performed with the climatic chamber allow simulating all environmental conditions accurately during drying coupling the effect of all environmental variables. As a result, the evaporation rate increases with infrared radiation in soil and water. The rate at the beginning of the desiccation tests in clays is the same as in water. However, this evaporation rate decreases as the soil becomes desiccated.

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Experimental characterization of shrinkage and desiccation cracking in thin clay layer

Cited by 309 publications

References 64 publications

Observations on the desiccation and cracking of clay layers

Observations on the desiccation and cracking of clay layers

Modelling desiccation cracking in thin clay layer using three-dimensional discrete element method

Improved climatic chamber for desiccation simulation

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