Modelling of shrinkage crack development in porous media

澳大利亚有有趣的陆地构造，包括各种活性土壤和岩石。在干燥或冷却过程中，由于材料收缩而形成的开裂模式对其起源和随后的行为有重大影响。收缩裂缝严重影响建筑物、道路和埋地管线的使用性能。它们形成的可能性在许多工程设计中都很重要，从几毫米厚的材料薄膜到用于危险废物填埋场的数百米长的粘土屏障。尽管它们具有广泛的意义，但目前还没有定量的方法来预测裂缝的形成和解释，本项目将为这一问题提供解决方案。

Australia has interesting land formations comprising various reactive soils and rock. The formation of cracking patterns due to material shrinkage during either drying or cooling has a significant influence on their origin and subsequent behaviour. The shrinkage cracks significantly affect the performance of buildings, roads and buried pipelines. The possibility of their formation is important in many engineering designs, ranging from few millimetres thick material film to hundreds of metres long clay barriers used in hazardous waste landfills. Despite their wide-spread significance, quantitative methods to predict the crack formation and interpretation are not yet available, and this project will provide a solution to this problem.