Geometric parameters and REV of a crack network in soil

Abstract

Cracks are common in natural and engineered soils and provide preferential pathways for water infiltration into the soil. Statistical properties of crack geometries are important inputs for analyzing preferential flows in discrete random crack networks. This paper reports the outcome of a field study conducted on a compacted, cracked soil ground at a steady moisture condition. The objectives of the field study were to investigate the crack patterns and probability distributions of the geometric parameters of cracks and to determine the representative elementary volume (REV) of the crack network. The desiccation cracks at the survey site formed an inter-connected columnar structure. The traces of the cracks on the soil surface formed a primary structure consisting of inter-connected crack polygons and a secondary structure comprising of isolated cracks. The locations and orientations of the desiccation cracks followed a uniform distribution, differing from the distribution of fracture sets often observed in fractured rocks. The lengths and apertures of the cracks followed a lognormal distribution as expected. The REV size for the cracked soil was found to be approximately five times the mean crack length, above which the variation in crack porosity in relation to domain size was negligible.