Novel Approach to Measuring Tensile Strength of Compacted Clayey Soil during Desiccation

TLDR: In this paper, the tensile forces in a thin compacted soil layer are measured while simultaneously monitoring moisture content changes and crack formation via time-lapse photography, and results are presented from desiccation tests performed on two clayey compacted soils of medi...

Abstract: Desiccation of soil is the gradual process of moisture loss from a fully or partially saturated condition to a dry state. If the soil is constrained against shrinkage during desiccation, it will begin to crack when tensile stresses in the soil exceed the tensile strength. Fundamental to understanding desiccation crack development in clayey soils is the accurate determination of the tensile strength during desiccation. Although numerous published studies have focused on soil desiccation and soil tensile strength, very little has been focused on experimental determination of tensile strength during desiccation. This paper presents the first generation of a novel apparatus designed to determine tensile strength during desiccation. During drying the tensile forces in a thin compacted soil layer are measured while simultaneously monitoring moisture content changes and crack formation via time-lapse photography. Results are presented from desiccation tests performed on two clayey compacted soils of medi...