Journal ArticleDOI
Desiccation of a sensitive clay: field experimental observations
J M Konrad,R Ayad +1 more
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In this article, an excavation with three different levels was exposed to continuous evaporation during 35 days in order to observe and document the formation of shrinkage cracks in an intact and weathered sensitive marine clay.Abstract:
An excavation with three different levels was exposed to continuous evaporation during 35 days in order to observe and document the formation of shrinkage cracks in an intact and weathered sensitive marine clay. Desiccation of the intact Saint-Alban clay under restrained conditions, at an average evaporation rate of 0.018 cm/h and an initial moisture content of 103%, produced visible primary cracks after 17 h with an average spacing of 20 to 24 cm. Secondary cracks within each original polygon appeared after about 70 h of evaporation. Subhorizontal cracks at a depth of 6 to 8 cm were also created owing to differential strains induced by differential shrinkage of the soil polygons. Further evaporation resulted in the formation of a new set of vertical cracks after about 150 h of evaporation in the soil below the subhorizontal shear plane. The shrinkage-induced volume change associated with these different sets of cracks produced polygons with a protuberance at their bottom part indicating that the depth of crack propagation below the subhorizontal shear plane was about 3 to 4 cm. In weathered clay at an initial moisture content of about 50%, the average spacing was 10 to 12 cm, indicating that spacing between primary cracks is related to soil type. In the cohesionless topsoil, no cracks were observed.read more
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Natural slopes and cuts: movement and failure mechanisms
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the state of knowledge in this domain, examining the basic aspects of soil mechanics that are relevant to the context of slopes, the importance of water on slope behaviour, and then the different stages of slope movements: pre-failure, failure, postfailure and reactivation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fundamentals of desiccation cracking of fine-grained soils: experimental characterisation and mechanisms identification
Hervé Peron,Hervé Peron,Tomasz Hueckel,Tomasz Hueckel,Lyesse Laloui,Lyesse Laloui,liangbu hu,liangbu hu +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, the results of a comprehensive experimental study of the desiccation of fine-grained soils were presented, which revealed that unconstrained drying exhibits two stages: a domain with large, mostly irrecoverable deformations and degree of saturation close to 100%, followed by another domain with lower defor- mations at a decreasing degree of satura- tion.
Journal ArticleDOI
Experimental characterization of shrinkage and desiccation cracking in thin clay layer
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated water evaporation, volume shrinkage, surface crack initiation and propagation processes during the whole drying period with application of image processing technique, the geometric or morphological characteristics of crack patterns were quantitatively described.
Journal ArticleDOI
Experiment evidence on the temperature dependence of desiccation cracking behavior of clayey soils
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the desiccation cracking behavior at three temperatures (22, 60 and 105°C) and found that the initial critical water content (wIC), which corresponds to the initiation of desiliccation crack, increases with temperature rise, and the ratio RSC increases with decreasing water content and then keeps almost constant when the water content becomes lower than the critical Water Content (wFC).
Journal ArticleDOI
A idealized framework for the analysis of cohesive soils undergoing desiccation
J M Konrad,R Ayad +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a model for crack formation in clays during drying was presented, and the onset of cracking was modelled, and crack depth was approximated with linear elastic fracture mechanics in mode I, i.e., opening of the crack.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Depth and spacing of tension cracks
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of the crack in relieving stress at the ground surface bears on the problem of crack spacing, and the rate of energy dissipation at the advancing crack tip bears on crack depth.
Journal ArticleDOI
A idealized framework for the analysis of cohesive soils undergoing desiccation
J M Konrad,R Ayad +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a model for crack formation in clays during drying was presented, and the onset of cracking was modelled, and crack depth was approximated with linear elastic fracture mechanics in mode I, i.e., opening of the crack.
Journal ArticleDOI
Desiccation of a sensitive clay: application of the model CRACK
R Ayad,J M Konrad,M Soulié +2 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used field data obtained during desiccation of an intact clay to assess the performance of a model enabling the prediction of depth and spacing of primary shrinkage cracks.
Journal ArticleDOI
Frost heave characteristics of undisturbed sensitive Champlain Sea clay
Jean-Marie Konrad,J.T.C. Seto +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the freezing characteristics of Champlain Sea clay are best defined by the segregation potential at the active ice lens, which includes water fluxes generated within the frozen fringe and within the unfrozen soil as excess water is expelled during consolidation, and finally water from an external source.