Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays
Abstract With global climate change, extreme weather occurs more and more frequently, leading to soil cracking becoming a common disaster. The desiccation cracks of soils can have a serious impact on the soils performance. Considering the initially saturated unconsolidated clayey soils, it may under...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04461-y |
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| author | Wenqing Cheng Hanbing Bian Hao Shi Fangfang Xun |
| author_facet | Wenqing Cheng Hanbing Bian Hao Shi Fangfang Xun |
| author_sort | Wenqing Cheng |
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| description | Abstract With global climate change, extreme weather occurs more and more frequently, leading to soil cracking becoming a common disaster. The desiccation cracks of soils can have a serious impact on the soils performance. Considering the initially saturated unconsolidated clayey soils, it may undergo shrinkage deformation due to water loss during the drying process, which is limited by various boundary conditions and represents one of the fundamental reasons for drying cracking. Nevertheless, identifying the stress of clay soil slurry with different water content is quite challenging in both experimental and numerical approaches. Presently, a combined numerical simulation and experiments research was conducted to investigate the constrained drying process of remolded clayey soil, using the strain analysis to reveal the drying shrinkage process. The strain process is divided in two parts: the free shrinkage deformation caused by water loss, and the mechanical strain generated by restricted boundary condition. The measurements of soil physical parameters variations during desiccation tests were carried out using Digital Image Correlation method, while numerical simulations helped to estimate the variable fields and enhanced significantly the understanding of experimental results. Finally, the desiccation shrinkage process of clay was successfully reproduced through simulation and an accurate evolution and distribution of tensile strain field was obtained through simulation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5dc36d0abfe34721bf43b50d03be4a9d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-5dc36d0abfe34721bf43b50d03be4a9d2025-08-20T03:37:20ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111710.1038/s41598-025-04461-yExperimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin claysWenqing Cheng0Hanbing Bian1Hao Shi2Fangfang Xun3School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Science and TechnologyLaboratoire de Génie Civil et géo-Environnement, University of Lille, IMT Lille Douai, University of Artois, JUNIA Hauts-de- France, ULR 4515 - LGCgESchool of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Science and TechnologySchool of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Science and TechnologyAbstract With global climate change, extreme weather occurs more and more frequently, leading to soil cracking becoming a common disaster. The desiccation cracks of soils can have a serious impact on the soils performance. Considering the initially saturated unconsolidated clayey soils, it may undergo shrinkage deformation due to water loss during the drying process, which is limited by various boundary conditions and represents one of the fundamental reasons for drying cracking. Nevertheless, identifying the stress of clay soil slurry with different water content is quite challenging in both experimental and numerical approaches. Presently, a combined numerical simulation and experiments research was conducted to investigate the constrained drying process of remolded clayey soil, using the strain analysis to reveal the drying shrinkage process. The strain process is divided in two parts: the free shrinkage deformation caused by water loss, and the mechanical strain generated by restricted boundary condition. The measurements of soil physical parameters variations during desiccation tests were carried out using Digital Image Correlation method, while numerical simulations helped to estimate the variable fields and enhanced significantly the understanding of experimental results. Finally, the desiccation shrinkage process of clay was successfully reproduced through simulation and an accurate evolution and distribution of tensile strain field was obtained through simulation.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04461-yDesiccation shrinkageExperimentsNumerical simulationsFinite elements |
| spellingShingle | Wenqing Cheng Hanbing Bian Hao Shi Fangfang Xun Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays Scientific Reports Desiccation shrinkage Experiments Numerical simulations Finite elements |
| title | Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays |
| title_full | Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays |
| title_fullStr | Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays |
| title_short | Experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays |
| title_sort | experimental and numerical modelling of desiccation shrinkage process of kaolin clays |
| topic | Desiccation shrinkage Experiments Numerical simulations Finite elements |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04461-y |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wenqingcheng experimentalandnumericalmodellingofdesiccationshrinkageprocessofkaolinclays AT hanbingbian experimentalandnumericalmodellingofdesiccationshrinkageprocessofkaolinclays AT haoshi experimentalandnumericalmodellingofdesiccationshrinkageprocessofkaolinclays AT fangfangxun experimentalandnumericalmodellingofdesiccationshrinkageprocessofkaolinclays |