The paper presents a study on the evaporation of water from high plasticity clayey soil and its impact on desiccation cracking behavior, particularly under high temperature conditions. The compaction water content, which represents the moisture content at which the soil is compacted during construction activities, plays a significant role in governing the propensity of clayey soils to undergo desiccation cracking. Understanding the effect of compaction water content on desiccation cracking in clayey soil is crucial for engineering practices involving the construction and maintenance of geotechnical structures on clayey soils.
This is even more important in areas with extreme heat and rainfall. Despite the large number of studies on soil desiccation cracking in clayey soils, earlier experimental investigations were carried out on slurry samples for research convenience. Little attention was given to the desiccation cracking behavior of compacted soil drying due to evaporation under constant extreme temperatures.
The major objective of this study was to experimentally investigate the soil water evaporation process of clayey soil compacted at different moisture contents at a constant high temperature and evaluate its impact on desiccation cracking. Evaporation tests were conducted applying the direct method using an electric oven and electronic scale. From the evaporation tests, the Soil Evaporation Characteristic Curve (SECC), which describes the relationship between loss of moisture at different evaporation rates, crack initiation, and propagation was monitored and analyzed. By applying an image processing technique using ImageJ software, the probability density functions (PDF) of final crack networks were determined.
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