Clay soils undergo shrinkage cracking during desiccation. Cracks can be a major unwanted feature in a number of geoengineering applications as well as in some other disciplines. For instance, in geoengineering shrinkage cracking is significant in earth embankments, slopes, foundations and roads. In agricultural engineering, cracks can stimulate the water and solute flow through soil in irrigated land. Clay liners are commonly used for lining and covering waste landfills in geo-environmental engineering. Shrinkage cracks can highly compromise the primary function of these clay liners by promoting water and leachate migration. A substantial amount of research work has been conducted in materials engineering on this issue to study the glazing and thermal fracturing in ceramics (e.g. Chiu & Cima, 1993) and printing, painting & washing (e.g. Deegan et al. 1997).