Long-term analysis of the shrinkage and swelling of clayey soils in a climate change context by numerical modelling and field monitoring

• Published in: Computers and geotechnics 2020-11, Vol.127, p.103763, Article 103763
• Main Authors: Assadollahi, Hossein, Nowamooz, Hossein
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmosphere; Atmospheric models; Boundary conditions; Clay; Clay soils; Clayey soils; Climate change; Climate models; Engineering Sciences; Environmental monitoring; Field monitoring; Flow theory; Moisture content; Numerical simulation; Parameters; Residential areas; Residential buildings; Shrinkage; Shrinkage & swelling; Soil; Soil shrinkage; Soil suction; Soil swelling; Soil temperature; Soil water; Soil-vegetation-atmosphere interaction; Soils; Structural damage; Temporal variations; Unsaturated flow; Uptake; Vegetation; Void ratio; Water content; Water flow; Water temperature; Water uptake
• ISSN: 0266-352X; 1873-7633
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compgeo.2020.103763

The shrinkage swelling phenomenon of clayey soils is affected by Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere (SVA) interactions and can cause severe structural damage to lightly loaded constructions such as residential buildings. A soil-atmosphere interaction method was primarily presented along with a coupled hydro-thermal soil model. This approach was established to determine primarily, the natural time variable boundary conditions at the considered soil surface and secondly to determine the spatial–temporal changes of the soil suction, water content and temperature. Thereafter, the influence of the water uptake by vegetation was incorporated in the source term of the unsaturated water flow theory, using an existing root water uptake model. Subsequently, the variations of the soil suction were related to the volume change using a linear model. The associated volumetric indices in the void ratio-log suction plan, along with the complementary parameters of the linear model were correlated with basic geotechnical parameters. Comparisons between the simulation results and observation from a monitored site showed an acceptable performance of the predictions. The approach was then extended to study the influence of future climate projections (2050) on soil displacements using three Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change scenarios which revealed different possible behavior in both short and long-term.