In this paper, desiccation and the associated cracking are numerically and experimentally investigated. First an elastic formulation of the hydro-mechanical problem is presented. The results of desiccation cracking tests are given. The validity of the modelling approach is shown in the light of finite element simulations, embedding crack propagation feature. The origins of desiccation crack patterns and their modelling are discussed.
Jean-François Molinari, Antonio Joaquin Garcia Suarez, Sacha Zenon Wattel
Jean-François Molinari, Guillaume Anciaux, Antonio Joaquin Garcia Suarez, Manon Eugénie Voisin--Leprince