| Summary: | In the present investigation, laboratorial test is conducted to examine the evolution law of fissures of the Wuxiang clay complexs under wetting and drying cycles. The oven drying method and the water film transfer method are employed to simulate the drying and wetting process, respectively. Digital photography and weighing are used to record the changes of fissures in each drying and wetting process, so as to conduct qualitative analyses. Matlab is applied to image processing to obtain the geometric feature values in the evolution process of fissures. The evolution rules of fissures are obtained by combining qualitative analyses and quantitative analyses, including: (1) in the drying process, the fissure rate of the clay complexs increases continuously and finally tends to be stable, and the first and second drying have the greatest influence on the fissure rate. In terms of the geometric characteristics, the fissures first grow and develop in all directions along the middle large fissure, and then turn to form a new large fissure with the increase number of cycles. (2) In the wetting process, the clay complexs expands when it absorbs water, and the fissures gradually tend to close, but the plastic deformation occurs. With the increasing wetting times, the accumulated deformation gradually decreases. After the fifth drying and wetting cycle, the accumulated deformation basically disappears, and the soil structure returns to a relatively uniform loose structure.
|
|---|