Bottom-up multiscale modelling of expansive soils in natural environments

膨胀土对环境高度敏感，强度和体积变化剧烈。该项目旨在提高我们对不同温度、水力条件、机械载荷和含水盐度下膨胀土的理解。该项目预计将结合多学科知识、多尺度实验和数值模拟。研究结果为评价膨胀土在不同条件下的性能提供了一种新的多尺度模型和先进的分析设计工具。研究结果将为减轻膨胀土对基础设施造成的重大破坏提供有效途径，并促进膨胀土产品在废物处理系统中的应用。

Expansive soils, highly sensitive to the environment, undergo dramatic strength and volume changes. This project aims to advance our understanding of expansive soils under different temperatures, hydraulic conditions, mechanical loads, and aqueous salinities. The project expects to use a combination of multidisciplinary knowledge, multiscale experiments and numerical simulations. The outcomes are a new multiscale model and advanced analysis/design tool for evaluating the performance of expansive soils under different conditions. The outcomes should provide the efficient way to mitigate the significant damage caused to infrastructure by expansive soils and facilitate the application of expansive soil products in waste disposal systems.