Water transport in shrinking-solidifying soils

The objective of this paper is to explain shrinkage in isotropic and homogeneous finegrained sediments when allowed to dry on top. The model is based on irreversible thermodynamics. Shrinkage is discussed with the same terms as amorphous swelling, but it is regarded under a different view that is the desiccation process to which fine-grained sediments can be subjected. Although a clay-silty soil is used as an example to explain these features in fine-grained sediments, the premise of the model may be generalised in order to explain shrinkage-crack associations in other materials.