Description of cracks´ geometry based on the images of cracked soil

Cracks appear on natural soil surface due to wetting drying cycles, shearing or other causes. The existence of crack has most important effect on the properties of soil. The crack of the soil has attracted much attention. The description of cracks´ geometry is the fundamental work for investigating the cracked soil. It is common to use the cracked rate, fractal dimensions and gray level entropy to describe the cracks of soil. However, it is not easy to acquire these three indexes. In this paper, a method for determining cracked rate, fractal dimensions and gray level entropy by images of cracked soil was presented. Based on this, the codes for calculating them were also developed, which made the description of crack easy and credible. The results show that they can describe the cracks geometry character and indicate the development of cracks. The extent of cracks growing increases with their increasing.