Effects of geometry of soil specimens on the formation of desiccation cracks

Yew Heng Sherman Seah, Eng Choon Leong*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Desiccation cracks in soils are important in engineering structures that need hydraulic integrity such as earth dams, and containment facilities. At the element test level, such cracks are a hindrance when the volume change of the soil specimen needs to be measured during the test. One such test is the volumetric shrinkage test where the volume of the soil specimen needs to be continuously determined together with its mass change as the soil specimen dries. The soil specimen may deform non-uniformly. Previously hazardous and cumbersome methods using mercury or wax are needed to determine the volume of soil specimens that deform non-uniformly, but the advent of 3D scanning and photogrammetry enables the volume of non-uniform soil specimens to be measured quite accurately. However, such techniques cannot accurately determine the volume of the deformed soil specimen once cracks start appearing in the soil specimen. Volumetric shrinkage tests are commonly conducted for cylindrical soil specimens. This paper investigates the geometry (shapes and dimensions) of soil specimens other than cylindrical on the formation of desiccation cracks. Bentonite is used as the test soil as it experiences large volume change on drying. The test results provide guidance for the geometry of a soil specimen to be used in the volumetric shrinkage test.

Original languageEnglish
Article number01010
JournalE3S Web of Conferences
Volume544
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2 2024
Externally publishedYes
Event8th International Symposium on Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials, IS-Porto 2023 - Porto, Portugal
Duration: Sept 3 2023Sept 6 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General Environmental Science
  • General Energy
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Keywords

  • desiccation cracks
  • expansive soils
  • geometry
  • soil specimen

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