A coupled thermo-hygro-mechanical peridynamic model for mechanism analysis of soil desiccation cracking

Abstract

Soil desiccation cracking, a natural phenomenon involving the complex interaction of multi-physical fields, significantly weakens the mechanical and hydraulic properties of soil, potentially leading to natural hazards. This study proposes a coupled thermo-hygro-mechanical peridynamic (PD) model to investigate the mechanical responses and fracture behaviors in saturated soils due to moisture evaporation and heat transfer. Specifically, the temperature-dependent moisture diffusion and moisture-dependent heat conduction equations are nonlocally reformulated using peridynamic differential operators (PDDO). The constitutive model incorporates the spatial attenuation of nonlocal interactions and the effects of moisture and temperature in the bond-based peridynamic framework. Utilizing a hybrid explicit–implicit solution strategy, the model can effectively capture soil strip detachment, cracking, and curling. The model is also employed to explore moisture transmission mechanisms, evaluate the effects of temperature and thickness on crack morphology, and reveal the relationship between stress, strain evolution, and crack propagation. Furthermore, the model incorporates the reference evapotranspiration formula, which can account for environmental factors such as solar radiation, ambient temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. Therefore, this expands the scope of model applicability and enables the simulation of soil desiccation cracking under natural conditions.