ABSTRACT
Shrinkage cracking is a common phenomenon in soils and cementiously stabilized soils that often leads to water infiltration and eventually causes serious pavement distress. Drying shrinkage during evaporation of moisture is one of the main reasons for shrinkage cracking. This study proposes a methodology to investigate the cracking process during drying shrinkage using finite element analysis. The migration of moisture is analogized to heat transfer process and utilizing the similarity between the sets of differential equations and boundary conditions, the heat module in Abaqus finite element software is used to analyze the initiation and propagation of cracking during drying shrinkage. It is found that shrinkage cracking initiates due to moisture gradient from evaporation. Minor cracks also occurred and expanded during the drying process.
