Root-reinforced sand: kinematic response of the soil

Abstract

The influence of the soil on the growth of a root system has been largely investigated. By contrast, the aim of this work is to go deep into the details of how the soil may be influenced by the root system. In particular, the root growth process and its potential to improve the soil strength is explored. Even though roots can be seen as fiber-like reinforcements, their growth changes the soil microstructure. Consequently, one of the objectives is to understand how the water content and the soil displacement fields evolve when an inclusion expands radially and axially. In particular, an investigation was carried on to characterise the deformation of the solid phase of the soil, due to the root growth. A series of in-vivo x-ray tomographies was acquired with Maize seeds growing roots into a coarse Hostun HN1.5-2 sand. Digital Image Correlation is used to calculate the soil 3D displacement fields around the growing plant roots.