Directional Drying Rates for Anisotropic Clays

The engineering properties of clays are greatly affected by their structure, which is defined as the combination of fabric (geometrical aspects of particle arrangements) and the associated interparticle forces. Although the microaspects of structure are virtually impossible to quantify within the present state-of-the art, much progress has been made in recent years to develop techniques for identifying and quantifying fabric, which is intimately related to structure. However, most fabric studies necessitate the use of highly trained personnel and sophisticated equipment and techniques, such as scanning or transmission electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry. Ideally, a more rapid, less sophisticated, and essentially non destructive technique for fabric identification and quantification is desirable. Toward this end, the study described herein interprets the directional drying characteristics of clay specimens with varying degrees of particle orientation in an effort to develop a technique for estimating the degree of fabric anisotropy.