Desiccation crack patterns are commonly observed in natural and engineered soils and provides preferential pathways for moisture infiltrating into the soil. Cracks occur easily in soil when moisture is lost due to desiccation. Crack formation and development are closely related to moisture content and have a marked impact on the soil deformation characteristics and hydraulic properties. However, the critical moisture content below which desiccation cracks appear in the soil is usually determined by experiment because there is a lack of research on theoretical calculation models. Therefore, a theoretical calculation model is proposed to calculate the critical moisture content, and a parameter, lambda\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\lambda$$\end{document}, based on the following relationships: between soil grain size and suction, between suction and tensile strength, and between soil cracking and tensile strength. The critical moisture content values of different grain compositions were calculated and compared with laboratory experiments of desiccation crack. The critical moisture content of the granite residual soil is between 20% (50% liquid limit) and 30% (75% liquid limit). The presented model provides a means to estimate the critical moisture content of crack formation from soil desiccation using basic soil properties. This method can estimate the characteristics of soil desiccation cracks under extreme weather condition.
来源平台：BULLETIN OF ENGINEERING GEOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
