This paper presents an experimental investigation on the impact of environmental variables on soil cracking in natural conditions. The test was performed on a large soil specimen of initial size 3 × 3 × 0.5 m exposed to real atmospheric conditions during one year, to include different seasonal weather conditions. The specimen was instrumented to monitor and record the main variables within the soil (temperature, volumetric water content, suction) and others at the soil-air interface (wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, rain intensity). The experiment extends previous experience from laboratory desiccating tests in two main aspects: the size of the specimen and the exposition to a natural environment. A large size is desirable to reduce the effect of the mechanical boundary conditions. Conducting the test in a natural setting allows including variables that cannot be properly studied in laboratory conditions such as solar radiation or wind velocity, which this research has shown to constitute two key factors controlling water evaporation and eventually soil cracking. The soil-air interface constitutes a narrow zone with high gradients of most of the variables involved controlling the fluxes of water and energy. The experiment has shown that variation of those gradients has considerable implications in soil cracking.

本文介绍了环境变量对自然条件下土壤开裂的影响的实验研究。该测试是在一年内暴露于真实大气条件下的初始尺寸为 3 × 3 × 0.5 m 的大型土壤标本上进行的，包括不同的季节性天气条件。该样本被安装用于监测和记录土壤中的主要变量（温度、体积含水量、吸力）和土壤 - 空气界面的其他变量（风速和风向、温度、相对湿度、太阳辐射、降雨强度）。该实验在两个主要方面扩展了以前实验室干燥测试的经验：标本的大小和对自然环境的暴露。需要大尺寸以减少机械边界条件的影响。在自然环境中进行测试允许包括在实验室条件下无法正确研究的变量，如太阳辐射或风速，这项研究表明，这是控制水分蒸发和最终土壤开裂的两个关键因素。土壤-空气界面构成了一个狭窄的区域，其中大多数涉及控制水和能量通量的变量具有高梯度。实验表明，这些梯度的变化对土壤开裂具有相当大的影响。土壤-空气界面构成了一个狭窄的区域，其中大多数涉及控制水和能量通量的变量具有高梯度。实验表明，这些梯度的变化对土壤开裂具有相当大的影响。土壤-空气界面构成了一个狭窄的区域，其中大多数涉及控制水和能量通量的变量具有高梯度。实验表明，这些梯度的变化对土壤开裂具有相当大的影响。