Crack Evolution and Strength Attenuation of Red Clay under Dry–Wet Cycles
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 4
Abstract
Red clay is a special soil that loses water and shrinks easily, which causes expansion and contraction and leads to the generation and development of cracks, weakening the strength and engineering properties of the soil. This investigation analyzed the mechanism of crack evolution and patterns of strength decay in red clay under dry–wet cycles and established a relationship between strength and crack ratio by employing image processing techniques and conducting direct shear tests on red clay with various initial moisture contents and humidification times. The results show that the crack ratio increases with the number of dry–wet cycles and eventually tends to be stable after the fourth dry–wet cycle, and the stress–displacement curve of red clay changes from weak hardening to hardening. With the progress of the dry and wet cycles, the shear strength indexes of red clay decrease extensively, displaying a negative association with the sample’s initial moisture content and the duration of humidification. Based on the experimental result, a quadratic function was established to model the relationship between soil cracking ratio and shear strength, which can predict the shear strength of red clay from the cracking ratio.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
The data sets generated or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2022J01091). The authors gratefully acknowledge their financial support.
References
ASTM. 2017. Standard practice for classification of soils for engineering purposes (unified soil classification system). ASTM D2487-17e1. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Bjerrum, L. 1967. “The third Terzaghi lectures; Progressive failure in slopes of overconsolidated plastic clay and clay shales.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div. 93 (5): 1–49. https://doi.org/10.1061/JSFEAQ.0001017.
Bohn, S., L. Pauchard, and Y. Couder. 2005a. “Hierarchical crack pattern as formed by successive domain divisions.” Phys. Rev. E 71 (4): 046214. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.046214.
Bohn, S., J. Platkiewicz, B. Andreotti, M. Adda-Bedia, and Y. Couder. 2005b. “Hierarchical crack pattern as formed by successive domain divisions. II. From disordered to deterministic behavior.” Phys. Rev. E 71 (4): 046215. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.046215.
Cao, C., Z. Xu, J. Chai, Y. Qin, and R. Tan. 2018. “Mechanical and hydraulic behaviors in a single fracture with asperities crushed during shear.” Int. J. Geomech. 18 (11): 04018148. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0001277.
Chen, H., X. Chen, Y. Qi, X. Huang, S. Yu, and G. Xiao. 2019. “Effects of dry density and moisture content on shear strength parameters of remolded red clay soil.” J. Eng. Geol. 27 (5): 1035–1040. https://doi.org/10.13544/j.cnki.jeg.2019025.
Chen, K. 2018. “Evolution of cracks in red clay under wetting-drying cycles and its influence on shear strength.” Hydrogeol. Eng. Geol. 45 (1): 89–95. https://doi.org/10.16030/j.cnki.issn.1000-3665.2018.01.13.
Chen, R., and C. W. W. Ng. 2013. “Impact of wetting–drying cycles on hydro-mechanical behavior of an unsaturated compacted clay.” Appl. Clay Sci. 86 (Dec): 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2013.09.018.
Cheng, Q., C.-S. Tang, H. Zeng, C. Zhu, N. An, and B. Shi. 2020. “Effects of microstructure on desiccation cracking of a compacted soil.” Eng. Geol. 265 (Feb): 105418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105418.
Chinese Standard. 2019. Standard for geotechnical testing method. GBT 50123-2019. Beijing: Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China.
Chinese Standard. 2020. Test methods of soils for highway engineering. JTG 3430-2020. Beijing: Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China.
Dai, B.-B., J. Yang, F.-T. Liu, C.-S. Tang, and T.-Q. Li. 2022. “Morphological description of desiccation cracks in soils: Insights from the perspective of anisotropy.” Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ. 81 (3): 94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02600-7.
Feng, R., L. Wu, D. Liu, Y. Wang, and B. Peng. 2020. “Lime- and cement-treated sandy lean clay for highway subgrade in China.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 32 (1): 04019335. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002984.
Gui, Y., and G.-F. Zhao. 2015. “Modelling of laboratory soil desiccation cracking using DLSM with a two-phase bond model.” Comput. Geotech. 69 (Sep): 578–587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2015.07.001.
Gustafsson, M. G. L. 2000. “Surpassing the lateral resolution limit by a factor of two using structured illumination microscopy.” J. Microsc. 198 (2): 82–87. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2818.2000.00710.x.
Huang, Z., B. Wei, L. Zhang, W. Chen, and Z. Peng. 2019. “Surface crack development rules and shear strength of compacted expansive soil due to dry–wet cycles.” Geotech. Geol. Eng. 37 (4): 2647–2657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-018-00784-y.
Levatti, H. U., P. C. Prat, and A. Ledesma. 2019. “Numerical and experimental study of initiation and propagation of desiccation cracks in clayey soils.” Comput. Geotech. 105 (Jan): 155–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2018.09.015.
Ma, S. K., M. S. Huang, P. Hu, and C. Yang. 2013. “Soil-water characteristics and shear strength in constant water content triaxial tests on Yunnan red clay.” J. Cent. South Univ. 20 (5): 1412–1419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-013-1629-1.
Modes, C. D., M. O. Magnasco, and E. Katifori. 2016. “Extracting hidden hierarchies in 3D distribution networks.” Phys. Rev. X 6 (3): 031009. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.031009.
Mohanty, S. K., J. E. Saiers, and J. N. Ryan. 2015. “Colloid mobilization in a fractured soil during dry–wet cycles: Role of drying duration and flow path permeability.” Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 (15): 9100–9106. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00889.
Mu, K., L. Kong, X. Zhang, and S. Yin. 2016. “Experimental investigation on engineering behaviors of red clay under effect of wetting-drying cycles.” Rock Soil Mech. 37 (8): 2247–2253. https://doi.org/10.16285/j.rsm.2016.08.016.
Sanchez, M., O. L. Manzoli, and L. J. N. Guimaraes. 2014. “Modeling 3-D desiccation soil crack networks using a mesh fragmentation technique.” Comput. Geotech. 62 (Oct): 27–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2014.06.009.
Shi, B.-X., C.-F. Zheng, and J.-K. Wu. 2014. “Research progress on expansive soil cracks under changing environment.” Sci. World J. 2014 (Jun): 816759. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/816759.
Skempton, A. 1948. “The rate of softening in stiff-fissured clays, with special reference to London clay.” In Vol. 2 of Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 50–53. London: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
Tang, C., B. Shi, C. Liu, L. Zhao, and B. Wang. 2008. “Influencing factors of geometrical structure of surface shrinkage cracks in clayey soils.” Eng. Geol. 101 (3–4): 204–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2008.05.005.
Tang, C. S., Y. J. Cui, B. Shi, A. M. Tang, and N. An. 2016. “Effect of wetting-drying cycles on soil desiccation cracking behaviour.” In Vol. 9 of Proc., 3rd European Conf. on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT), 9. Paris: EDP Sciences.
Tang, C.-S., C. Zhu, Q. Cheng, H. Zeng, J.-J. Xu, B.-G. Tian, and B. Shi. 2021. “Desiccation cracking of soils: A review of investigation approaches, underlying mechanisms, and influencing factors.” Earth Sci. Rev. 216 (May): 103586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103586.
Wang, X., J. Yu, Q. Li, Y. Yu, and H. Lv. 2022. “Study on the crack evolution process and stress redistribution near crack tip in soil.” Int. J. Geomech. 22 (1): 04021255. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0002236.
Yuan, Z., W. Ni, C. Tang, S. Hu, and J. Gan. 2017. “Experimental study of structure strength and strength attenuation of loess under wetting-drying cycle.” Rock Soil Mech. 38 (7): 1894. https://doi.org/10.16285/j.rsm.2017.07.007.
Zeng, L., H.-C. Yu, Q.-F. Gao, J. Liu, and Z.-H. Liu. 2022. “Evolution of tensile properties of compacted red clay under wet and dry cycles.” KSCE J. Civ. Eng. 26 (2): 606–618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-021-0527-6.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 4 • April 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 23, 2023
Accepted: Oct 9, 2023
Published online: Jan 29, 2024
Published in print: Apr 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 29, 2024
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.