Laboratory study on cracks in saturated sands

It has been reported([1]) that when a loosely packed column of saturated sa nd in a vertical cylindrical container is shock loaded axially by dropping to the floor, large horizontal cracks initiate, grow and eventually fade aw ay in the sand as it settles under gravity. This paper shows that a similar phenomenon can also be observed when shock loading is replaced by forcing water to percolate upward through the sand column. It is believed that our result sheds further light on the physics of formation of these cracks.