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A 2D FDEM-based moisture diffusion–fracture coupling model for simulating soil desiccation cracking

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Abstract

Based on the combined finite–discrete element method (FDEM), this paper presents a moisture diffusion–fracture coupling model to simulate soil desiccation cracking. The coupling model, firstly, analyzes moisture content distribution within the soil according to a moisture diffusion model. Then, the shrinkage stress caused by the change of moisture content is calculated and applied to the system equation of FDEM. Finally, if a new crack is generated, the node sharing relationship and mesh of adjacent solid elements are updated for moisture diffusion calculation in the next time step. In this paper, examples of 1D moisture migration in the soil trip, shrinkage stress and deformation caused by the moisture reduce in the rectangular soil are studied. The simulation results agree well with analytical solutions, which verifies the correctness of the proposed model. Then, the model is used to simulate soil desiccation cracking process, and the crack evolution pattern in the numerical results is consistent with experimental results. Besides, several main factors affecting soil desiccation cracking are also investigated, including the elastic modulus, the moisture shrinkage coefficient, and the soil thickness. The moisture diffusion–fracture coupling model provides a new research tool for studying the mechanical mechanism of soil desiccation cracking.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11872340 and 11602006; the Hong Kong Scholars Program (XJ2019040, HKSP19EG04); Hong Kong Research Grants Council grant 16214220; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (CUG170657, CUGGC09).

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  1. Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Chengzeng Yan & Tie Wang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Chengzeng Yan & Gang Wang

  3. Wuhan Municipal Construction Group Co., Ltd, Wuhan, 430023, China

    Wenhui Ke

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Yan, C., Wang, T., Ke, W. et al. A 2D FDEM-based moisture diffusion–fracture coupling model for simulating soil desiccation cracking. Acta Geotech. 16, 2609–2628 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-021-01297-4

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