Experimental investigation on the desiccation cracking process in date palm fiber reinforced clayey soil using digital image correlation

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study that aims to enhance the cracking resistance of clay soil. Laboratory tests were performed in order to assess the effect of fiber content and length on the desiccation cracking of clay soil. During these tests, a digital image acquisition system was used to depict the development and spread of cracks. The results were analyzed using the DIC digital image correlation technique for the full-strain obtaining and image processing analysis for the crack feature measurements. The results show that date palm fibers have a considerable impact on the wide spread of cracks in clay soil during desiccation, in addition to their area and width. The DIC approach was useful for monitoring the displacement evolution and strain field detection on the surface of the specimen. The addition of fibers slows the water evaporation rate of the specimens. Optimum crack reduction ratio of about 47% was found in fiber-reinforced clay with 0.75% fiber content at 10 mm fiber length.

Keywords:

• Clay soil
• date palm fibers
• desiccation crack
• digital image correlation

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Directorate General for Scientific Research and Technological Development DGRSDT, Algeria, for financial support. The authors are grateful to acknowledge the employees and the managers of the national construction laboratory “LNHC” Djelfa, Algeria for their kind assistance in carrying the geotechnical tests for this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.