Sustainable Solution on Desiccation Crack Mitigation with Recycled Glass Sand

Abstract

Desiccation cracking is a frequent natural phenomenon that occurs in drying soil and has a significant negative impact on the mechanical and hydraulic properties of clay or geomaterials in various engineering applications. In this study, recycled glass sand (RGS) was used to reduce the plasticity of clay soil and mitigate desiccation cracks in clay soils. The effect of the RGS particle size and content was investigated using a desiccation crack observation test. Digital image processing technology was used to evaluate the crack rate, length, width, and area during the observation test. The results reveal that the cracking rate was inversely proportional to the RGS content and directly proportional to the RGS particle size. For instance, the cracking rate of clay soil treated with 25% RGS with a particle size of 0.15 mm was reduced to 0.17% compared with untreated soil. The strengths of the untreated and RGS-treated soils were evaluated through unconfined compression tests. The unconfined compressive strength of the RGS-treated clay soil decreased slightly with the addition of RGS. In general, the addition of RGS has great potential for mitigating desiccation cracks in clay soils.