Effect of basalt fiber and carbon fiber on the evolution of water evaporation and cracking characteristics of silt soil

Cultivated land is prone to cracking during the high-temperature season, resulting in accelerated water evaporation, incomplete soil structure, and waste of resources caused by pollutants entering the soil. In this study, image analysis technology was used to compare the effects of two kinds of fibers on the drying and shrinkage characteristics of silt under the same volume. The results show that during cracking process, water evaporation can be divided into three phases: constant rate stage, deceleration rate stage, and residual stage. The crack rate of 0.08% basalt fiber-treated soil and 0.06% carbon fiber-treated soil is reduced by 27.66% and 27.98%, respectively. The addition of fibers acts like a bridge, narrowing the concentration of crack width from 0.2–0.8 to 0–0.6 mm, increasing short cracks of 0–5 mm and decreasing long cracks larger than 5 mm, thus reducing the soil cracking rate. With rough surface and high elastic modulus of fibers, the addition of fibers enhances the friction between soil particles to limit the movement of soil mass, and bears part of the tensile stress when cracking. It increases the tensile strength between the soil mass and effectively reduces the crack rate. It is found that the improvement effect of basalt fiber is relatively better and the economic benefit is higher under the same volume.