Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Anisotropy in volume change behaviour of soils during shrinkage

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Acta Geotechnica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It has been long recognised that some of the fundamental and engineering properties of soils exhibit a certain degree of anisotropy that eventually dictates their directional geoengineering behaviours. Consideration of the importance of the volume change behaviour of soils during shrinkage and a critical review of the literature suggests scopes for further research for the development of a better understanding of the anisotropy in volume change encountered during soil shrinkage. In this paper, anisotropy in volumetric shrinkage behaviour of soil is depicted with the theory of geometry factor and shrinkage strains. A systematic investigation and analysis on the evolution of geometry factors and shrinkage strains of several geomaterial samples during evaporative dewatering is reported herein. A theoretical framework for evaluating shrinkage geometry factors of a cylindrical soil specimen undergoing volume change during progressive moisture loss is described in this paper. Furthermore, based on experimental and literature data, shrinkage geometry factors of several specimens differing in terms of gradational properties, specimen size, evaporative boundary condition and pore fluid salinity are evaluated and discussed in detail in accordance with the theoretical framework. Linkages between shrinkage process, shrinkages strains and geometry factor are also analysed to underpin the usage of geometry factor and shrinkage strains to characterise anisotropy during soil shrinkage.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

α, β, n, m :

Parameters in the model by Kim et al. [19]

εd/εv, RDS:

Relative diametrical strain

ε d :

Diametrical strain

Δd :

Change in specimen diameter

Δh :

Change in specimen height

ε l :

Longitudinal strain

εl/εv, RLS:

Relative longitudinal strain

ε v :

Volumetric strain

A,p :

Parameters in the model by Sabnis et al. [43]

d :

Specimen diameter at a given time

d 0 :

Initial specimen diameter

GMC:

Gravimetric moisture content

h :

Specimen height at a given time

h 0 :

Initial specimen height

NMCOMC :

Normalised moisture content with respect to optimum moisture content

POB:

Dredged mud sample from port of Brisbane reclamation site

r s :

Static geometry factor

\( r_{\text{s}}^{\prime } \) :

Representative static geometry factor

r sd :

Static geometry factor corresponding to diametrical shrinkage

r sl :

Static geometry factor corresponding to vertical shrinkage

S s :

Shrinkage strain

SLGE :

Shrinkage limit as defined in geotechnical engineering

SSCC:

Soil shrinkage characteristic curve

V :

Specimen volume at a given time

V 0 :

Initial specimen volume

w :

Gravimetric moisture content of the specimen at a given time

w 0 :

Gravimetric moisture content of the specimen initially

References

  1. Anandarajah A (2000) On influence of fabric anisotropy on the stress–strain behavior of clays. Comput Geotech 27(1):1–17

    Google Scholar 

  2. Baer JU, Anderson SH (1997) Landscape effects on desiccation cracking in an Aqualf. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61(5):1497–1502

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bani Hashem E, Houston SL (2015) Volume change consideration in determining unsaturated soil properties for geotechnical applications. Int J Geomech 16(6):D4015003. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000586

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Beck-Broichsitter S, Gerke HH, Horn R (2018) Shrinkage characteristics of boulder marl as sustainable mineral liner material for landfill capping systems. Sustainability 10(11):4025

    Google Scholar 

  5. Berney IV, Ernest S, Hodo WD, Peters JF, Myers TE, Olsen RS, Sharp MK (2008) Assessment of the effectiveness of clay soil covers as engineered barriers in waste disposal facilities with emphasis on modelling cracking behaviour. Report No. (ERDC-TR-08-7). Nuclear regulatory commission Washington DC, USA

  6. Brake BT, van Der Ploeg MJ, De Rooij GH (2013) Water storage change estimation from in situ shrinkage measurements of clay soils. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 17(5):1933–1949

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bronswijk JJB (1986) Evaporation and cracking of a heavy clay soil. Report 14, Inst. Land and Water Management Research, Wageningen, Netherlands

  8. Bronswijk JJB (1990) Shrinkage geometry of a heavy clay soil at various stresses. Soil Sci Soc Am J 54(5):1500–1502

    Google Scholar 

  9. Chertkov VY (2005) The shrinkage geometry factor of a soil layer. Soil Sci Soc Am J 69(6):1671–1683

    Google Scholar 

  10. Chertkov VY, Ravina I, Zadoenko V (2004) An approach for estimating the shrinkage geometry factor at a moisture content. Soil Sci Soc Am J 68(6):1807–1817

    Google Scholar 

  11. Clennell MB, Dewhurst DN, Brown KM, Westbrook GK (1999) Permeability anisotropy of consolidated clays. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 158(1):79–96

    Google Scholar 

  12. Fisher BL, Doumet R (2017) Remediation solutions for buildings affected by shrinkage or swelling of unsaturated clays. In: Proceeding of the 2nd Pan American conference on unsaturated soils, GSP303:209-224, Dallas, USA

  13. Garnier P, Perrier E, Jaramillo RA, Baveye P (1997) Numerical model of 3-dimensional anisotropic deformation and 1-dimensional water flow in swelling soils. Soil Sci 162(6):410–420

    Google Scholar 

  14. Garnier P, Rieu M, Boivin P, Vauclin M, Baveye P (1997) Determining the hydraulic properties of a swelling soil from a transient evaporation experiment. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61(6):1555–1563

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gebhardt S, Fleige H, Horn R (2012) Anisotropic shrinkage of mineral and organic soils and its impact on soil hydraulic properties. Soil Tillage Res 125:96–104

    Google Scholar 

  16. Gomboš M, Tall A, Kandra B, Balejčíková L, Pavelková D (2018) Geometric factor as the characteristics of the three-dimensional process of volume changes of heavy soils. Environments 5(4):45

    Google Scholar 

  17. Jovičić V, Coop MP (1998) The measurement of stiffness anisotropy in clays with bender element tests in the triaxial apparatus. Geotech Test J 21(1):3–10

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kang X, Kang GC, Bate B (2014) Measurement of stiffness anisotropy in kaolinite using bender element tests in a floating wall consolidometer. Geotech Test J 37(5):869–883

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kim DJ, Vereecken H, Feyen J, Boels D, Bronswijk JJB (1992) On the characterization of properties of an unripe marine clay soil: I. Shrinkage processes of an unripe marine clay soil in relation to physical ripening. Soil Sci 153(6):471–481

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kirkgard MM, Lade PV (1993) Anisotropic three-dimensional behaviour of a normally consolidated clay. Can Geotech J 30(5):848–858

    Google Scholar 

  21. Li JH, Zhang LM, Wang Y, Fredlund DG (2009) Permeability tensor and representative elementary volume of saturated cracked soil. Can Geotech J 46(8):928–942

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ling HI, Tatsuoka F (1994) Performance of anisotropic geosynthetic-reinforced cohesive soil mass. J Geotech Eng 120(7):1166–1184

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lings ML, Pennington DS, Nash DFT (2000) Anisotropic stiffness parameters and their measurement in a stiff natural clay. Géotechnique 50(2):109–125

    Google Scholar 

  24. Lo KY, Morin JP (1972) Strength anisotropy and time effects of two sensitive clays. Can Geotech J 9(3):261–277

    Google Scholar 

  25. Marinho FAM (2017) Fundamentals of soil shrinkage. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Pan American conference on unsaturated soils. GSP300:198-222. Dallas, USA

  26. Mayne PW (1985) Stress anisotropy effects on clay strength. J Geotech Eng 111(3):356–366

    Google Scholar 

  27. Menzies BK, Mailey LK (1976) Some measurements of strength anisotropy in soft clays using diamond-shaped shear vanes. Geotechnique 26(3):535–538

    Google Scholar 

  28. Michalowski RL, Cermák J (2002) Strength anisotropy of fibre-reinforced sand. Comput Geotech 29(4):279–299

    Google Scholar 

  29. Mishra PN, Bore T, Scheuermann A, Li L (2020) Characterisation of pore fluid salinity dependent evaporative dewatering of kaolin using dielectric spectroscopy. Rock Mech Geotech Eng 12(1):112–125

    Google Scholar 

  30. Mishra PN, Scheuermann A, Li L (2018) Significance of corrections and impact of saline pore fluid on kaolin. J Mater Civ Eng. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)mt.1943-5533.0002458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Mishra PN, Bore T, Scheuermann A, Li L (2018b) An integrated approach for capturing dielectric response and volume change behaviour of dredged material from port of Brisbane. In: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on unsaturated soils (UNSAT-2018), Hong Kong

  32. Mishra PN, Scheuermann A, Bore T, Li L (2018) Salinity effects on soil shrinkage characteristic curves of fine grained geomaterials. J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 11(1):181–191

    Google Scholar 

  33. Mualem Y (1984) Anisotropy of unsaturated soils 1. Soil Sci Soc Am J 48(3):505–509

    Google Scholar 

  34. Ng CWW, Yung SY (2008) Determination of the anisotropic shear stiffness of an unsaturated decomposed soil. Géotechnique 58(1):23–35

    Google Scholar 

  35. Nishimura S, Minh NA, Jardine RJ (2007) Shear strength anisotropy of natural London clay. Géotechnique 57(1):49–62

    Google Scholar 

  36. Noack M, Wagner N, Wuttke F, Witt KJ (2013) Determination of coupled structural changes in shrinking clays with high frequency electromagnetic minimal invasive techniques in real time. In: Proceedings of the, 10th international conference on electromagnetic wave interaction with water and moist substances (ISEMA 2013). Weimar, Germany, pp 231–241

  37. Oda M (1981) Anisotropic strength of cohesionless sands. J Geotech Eng 107(9):1219–1231

    Google Scholar 

  38. O’Donovan J, O’Sullivan C, Marketos G, Wood DM (2015) Anisotropic stress and shear wave velocity: DEM studies of a crystalline granular material. Géotech Lett 5(3):224–230

    Google Scholar 

  39. Oleszczuk R, Bohne K, Szatylowicz J, Brandyk T, Gnatowski T (2003) Influence of load on shrinkage behavior of peat soils. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 166(2):220–224

    Google Scholar 

  40. Piriyakul K (2006) Anisotropic stress-strain behaviour of Belgian Boom clay in the small strain region. Doctoral dissertation, Ghent University, Belgium

  41. Richardson DN, Stephenson RW, Molloy D (1987) Soil-shrinkage induced structural failure. J Perform Constr Facil 1(4):219–228

    Google Scholar 

  42. Rijniersce K (1983) A simulation model for physical soil ripening in the Ijsselmeer polders. In: Proceedings of the Overdruk uit: polders of the world: papers international symposium. Lelystad, Netherlands, pp 407–417

  43. Sabnis A, Abdallah I, Nazarian S, Puppala A (2010) Development of shrinkage model for clays based on moisture variation. In: Proceedings of the GeoShanghai international conference. Shanghai, China, pp 166–172

  44. Saleh-Mbemba F, Aubertin M, Mbonimpa M, Li L (2016) Experimental characterization of the shrinkage and water retention behaviour of tailings from hard rock mines. Geotech Geol Eng 34(1):251–266

    Google Scholar 

  45. Santamarina JC, Cascante G (1996) Stress anisotropy and wave propagation: a micromechanical view. Can Geotech J 33(5):770–782

    Google Scholar 

  46. Shire T, O’Sullivan C, Barreto D, Gaudray G (2013) Quantifying stress-induced anisotropy using inter-void constrictions. Géotechnique 63(1):85–91

    Google Scholar 

  47. Stewart RD, Rupp DE, Najm MR, Selker JS (2016) A unified model for soil shrinkage, subsidence, and cracking. Vadose Zone J 15(3):1–15

    Google Scholar 

  48. Su SF, Liao LH (1999) Effect of strength anisotropy on undrained slope stability in clay. Geotechnique 49(2):215–230

    Google Scholar 

  49. Towner GD (1986) Anisotropic shrinkage of clay cores, and the interpretation of field observations of vertical soil movement. J Soil Sci 37(3):363–371

    Google Scholar 

  50. Toyota H, Takada S, Susami A (2018) Mechanical properties of saturated and unsaturated cohesive soils with stress-induced anisotropy. Géotechnique 68(10):883–892

    Google Scholar 

  51. Tran DT, Fredlund DG, Chan DH (2015) Improvements to the calculation of actual evaporation from bare soil surfaces. Can Geotech J 53(1):118–133

    Google Scholar 

  52. Widomski MK, Stępniewski W, Horn R, Bieganowski A, Gazda L, Franus M, Pawłowska M (2015) Shrink-swell potential, hydraulic conductivity and geotechnical properties of clay materials for landfill liner construction. Int Agrophys 29(3):365–375

    Google Scholar 

  53. Witt KJ, Brauns J (1983) Permeability-anisotropy due to particle shape. J Geotech Eng 109(9):1181–1187

    Google Scholar 

  54. Zdravković L, Potts DM, Hight DW (2002) The effect of strength anisotropy on the behaviour of embankments on soft ground. Géotechnique 52(6):447–457

    Google Scholar 

  55. Zhao J, Guo N (2015) The interplay between anisotropy and strain localisation in granular soils: a multiscale insight. Géotechnique 65(8):642–656

    Google Scholar 

  56. Zhao NF, Ye WM, Chen B, Chen YG, Cui YJ (2019) Modeling of the swelling–shrinkage behavior of expansive clays during wetting–drying cycles. Acta Geotech 14(5):1325–1335

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by scholarship supports through ‘Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship’ (Formerly ‘International Postgraduate Research Scholarship’), UQ Centennial Scholarship (The University of Queensland) and Top up scholarship (School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland) awarded to Mr. P.N. Mishra. The support through the Port of Brisbane/UQ research venture is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their time and suggestions to improve the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geotechnical Engineering Centre, School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Partha Narayan Mishra, Yuan Zhang, Md Habibullah Bhuyan & Alexander Scheuermann

Authors
  1. Partha Narayan Mishra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yuan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Md Habibullah Bhuyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alexander Scheuermann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Partha Narayan Mishra.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mishra, P.N., Zhang, Y., Bhuyan, M.H. et al. Anisotropy in volume change behaviour of soils during shrinkage. Acta Geotech. 15, 3399–3414 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01015-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01015-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation