Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks

When a cohesive soil is dried, its volume tends to shrink in three directions. Shrinkage of the soil causes tensile stresses to develop and desiccation cracks will start to develop. The occurrence of cracks can significantly influence the lateral flow of water through the soil. It is important to un...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Krisnanto, S., Rahardjo, H., Fredlund, D. G., Leong, E. C.
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101959
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19815
_version_ 1811684383527010304
author Krisnanto, S.
Rahardjo, H.
Fredlund, D. G.
Leong, E. C.
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Krisnanto, S.
Rahardjo, H.
Fredlund, D. G.
Leong, E. C.
author_sort Krisnanto, S.
collection NTU
description When a cohesive soil is dried, its volume tends to shrink in three directions. Shrinkage of the soil causes tensile stresses to develop and desiccation cracks will start to develop. The occurrence of cracks can significantly influence the lateral flow of water through the soil. It is important to understand the characteristics of lateral flow through a cracked soil. A model to predict the lateral flow rate through a network of cracks in the soils is proposed in this paper. In the proposed model, the actual network of cracks was idealized into a set of linear cracks. The flow through a single crack was modelled as a flow through parallel plates and the flow rate through the idealized network of cracks was calculated by incorporating the conservation of mass principle and the additional head losses due to the change in crack aperture. Laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the predictive performance of the model. Experiments were performed consisting of two main parts; namely, performing a desiccation test and performing a lateral flow test to measure the lateral flow rate through a cracked soil specimen followed by measuring water contents along the cracked soil specimen following the completion of the test. The laboratory test results indicated that during the lateral flow through the unsaturated soil specimens, two types of flow occurred which can be described as the steady state water flow through the network of cracks and the transient state seepage into the soil matrix. A comparison of the predicted and measured lateral water flow rates showed that the proposed model was able to predict the lateral flow rate through the network of cracks quite well.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T04:27:45Z
format Journal Article
id ntu-10356/101959
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T04:27:45Z
publishDate 2014
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/1019592020-03-07T11:45:54Z Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks Krisnanto, S. Rahardjo, H. Fredlund, D. G. Leong, E. C. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Geotechnical When a cohesive soil is dried, its volume tends to shrink in three directions. Shrinkage of the soil causes tensile stresses to develop and desiccation cracks will start to develop. The occurrence of cracks can significantly influence the lateral flow of water through the soil. It is important to understand the characteristics of lateral flow through a cracked soil. A model to predict the lateral flow rate through a network of cracks in the soils is proposed in this paper. In the proposed model, the actual network of cracks was idealized into a set of linear cracks. The flow through a single crack was modelled as a flow through parallel plates and the flow rate through the idealized network of cracks was calculated by incorporating the conservation of mass principle and the additional head losses due to the change in crack aperture. Laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the predictive performance of the model. Experiments were performed consisting of two main parts; namely, performing a desiccation test and performing a lateral flow test to measure the lateral flow rate through a cracked soil specimen followed by measuring water contents along the cracked soil specimen following the completion of the test. The laboratory test results indicated that during the lateral flow through the unsaturated soil specimens, two types of flow occurred which can be described as the steady state water flow through the network of cracks and the transient state seepage into the soil matrix. A comparison of the predicted and measured lateral water flow rates showed that the proposed model was able to predict the lateral flow rate through the network of cracks quite well. Accepted version 2014-06-19T02:05:02Z 2019-12-06T20:47:23Z 2014-06-19T02:05:02Z 2019-12-06T20:47:23Z 2014 2014 Journal Article Krisnanto, S., Rahardjo, H., Fredlund, D.G., & Leong, E.C. (2014). Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks. Engineering Geology, 172, 12-25. 0013-7952 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101959 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19815 10.1016/j.enggeo.2014.01.002 en Engineering geology © 2014. Elsevier B.V. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Engineering Geology, Elsevier B.V. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: [DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2014.01.002]. 56 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Geotechnical
Krisnanto, S.
Rahardjo, H.
Fredlund, D. G.
Leong, E. C.
Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
title Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
title_full Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
title_fullStr Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
title_full_unstemmed Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
title_short Mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
title_sort mapping of cracked soils and lateral water flow characteristics through a network of cracks
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Geotechnical
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101959
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19815
work_keys_str_mv AT krisnantos mappingofcrackedsoilsandlateralwaterflowcharacteristicsthroughanetworkofcracks
AT rahardjoh mappingofcrackedsoilsandlateralwaterflowcharacteristicsthroughanetworkofcracks
AT fredlunddg mappingofcrackedsoilsandlateralwaterflowcharacteristicsthroughanetworkofcracks
AT leongec mappingofcrackedsoilsandlateralwaterflowcharacteristicsthroughanetworkofcracks