Characterization of Volumetric Crack Rate and Its Influence on Unconfined Compressive Strength of Red Clay
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 11
Abstract
Desiccation cracking is a common phenomenon for red clay due to alternating wet and dry weathers. The presence of cracks definitely affects the strength of the soil; however, characterizing the development of desiccation cracks inside the soil has been a challenge. The purpose of this study was to propose a method to quantify the volumetric crack rate (VCR) of red clay and investigate the influence of VCR on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of red clay. First, the relationship between wave speed and VCR was quantified by a prefabricated crack method to obtain the equivalent VCR (EVCR). Then, the EVCR was compared with the surface crack rate (SCR) to determine the reliability of the method. Finally, unconfined compression tests were carried out to explore the relationship between EVCR and UCS. The results show that the relationship between the prefabricated VCR and wave velocity can be described by a logarithmic equation. The calculated VCR by this equation is linearly correlated to the SCR of red clay, indicating that the logarithmic equation is effective to quantify the VCR of red clay caused by wet and dry cycles. The UCS and residual strength of red clay containing cracks reduce following an exponential function with increasing EVCR. Gray relational analysis showed that the correlation between UCS and EVCR is better than that between UCS and SCR, suggesting that it is more reliable to express the crack rate by EVCR when studying the UCS of red clay.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52078067 and 52008041), the Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Bridge Engineering Safety Control by Department of Education (Changsha University of Science & Technology) (15KB01), the Changsha City Outstanding Innovative Youth Training Program (kq1905043), the Hunan young scientific and technological innovation talents (2020RC306), the Training Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates (Changsha University of Science & Technology) (202013635007), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (Nos. 2021JJ40576 and 2023JJ10045).
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 11 • November 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 24, 2022
Accepted: Apr 19, 2023
Published online: Aug 31, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 31, 2024
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