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Infiltration and Surface Geometry Features of a Swelling Soil following Successive Simulated Rainstorms

^a USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Lab., Oxford, MS 38655
^b Dep. of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853
^c Dep. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38677

View larger version (28K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. The solid line represents the laser elevation of the soil surface before the rainstorm, the circular symbols represent the elevation of the soil surface immediately after the rainstorm, before penetration, and the diamond symbols represent the final position of the penetrometer immediately after the rainstorm, after application of the 500-g load. (A) Needle penetration measurements from Exp. B, immediately following the first rainstorm. (B) Immediately following the second rainstorm. (C) Immediately following the third rainstorm. Here, the depth of the wetting front, near the column centers, is less than the previous rainstorm, while the depth of wetting near the previous cracks is greater. (D) Immediately following the fourth rainstorm. The depth of wetting near the previous cracks increased 2 cm, while the depth of wetting near the previous prismatic column centers remained 2 cm below the surface. (Cracks formed after the first rainstorm and following each subsequent rainstorm.)

View larger version (140K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Surface elevation map from Exp. A, immediately following the first rainstorm. The surface elevations are presented in centimeters, with the hot colors denoting the highest elevations.

View larger version (129K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Surface elevation map from Exp. A, following the first rainstorm, after 9 d of drying. The surface elevations are presented in centimeters, with the hot colors denoting the highest elevations. Each prismatic column surface resembles a bowl, with higher elevations radiating away from the center of the column.

View larger version (134K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Surface elevation map from Exp. A, following the second rainstorm, after 21 d of drying. The surface elevations are presented in centimeters, with the hot colors denoting the highest elevations. Previous cracks (Fig. 3) are now the lowest elevations and vice-versa. In several cases, the centers of the previous prismatic columns formed reduced columns with cracks branching out.

View larger version (130K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Surface elevation map from Exp. A, following the third rainstorm, after 21 d of drying. The cracking pattern is similar to the pattern in Fig. 3, but the bowl shape is not obvious.

View larger version (128K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Surface elevation map from Exp. A, following the fourth rainstorm, after 24 d of drying. The prismatic column size increased to 10 cm, but the position of the prismatic columns and the cracking pattern is similar to Fig. 4.

View larger version (16K): [in a new window]   Fig. 7. Soil heave estimates from Exp. A through five rainstorms and five drying periods, calculated from the surface elevation measurements by subtracting the initial dry pack sample elevation measurements from subsequent sample elevation measurements. The arrows point to the heave estimates immediately following the rainstorm.

View larger version (10K): [in a new window]   Fig. 8. Cumulative infiltration through eight rainstorms plotted as a function of the average crack depth before the onset of the rainstorm. The solid circles are the first four rainstorm data points and the open circles are the last four. The linear fit was based on the first four rainstorms.