A coupled model for heating and hydratation in unsaturated clays

Knowledge of transport processes of heat and moisture in soils of arid zones is vital to understanding the environmental and economic impacts of many activities: agriculture, waste disposal, geoenvironmental practices and earth sciences. Through extensive review and study on the different aspects of coupled transfer processes in swelling porous media, a general mathematical model for coupled heat, moisture, air flow and deformation problems in clayey soils is proposed in a consistent and unified manner. The model is characterized by the presence of a deformable solid matrix filled with two fluid phases (liquid water and air). In the proposed model, both pore water and air transfers are assumed to be governed by the generalized Darcy's law. Fully coupled, non-linear partial differential equations are established and then solved by using a Galerkin weighted residual approach in space domain and an implicit integrating scheme in time domain. The obtained model has been finally validated by means of some case tests for the prediction of the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated swelling soils. The calculated relative errors between experimental and numerical results are 3% for temperature and 7% for stresses. Consequently, the developed numerical model predicts satisfactory results, compared to experimental test measures. The model is applicable to two-dimensional problems with various initial and boundary conditions; non-linear soil parameters can be easily included in this model.