The Mechanism of Fracture of Compacted Soils

According to the phenomena of the fracture of compacted soils, the fundamental concepts of fracture mechanics are introduced. It shows that these concepts can also be applied to the compacted soils. The possibilities and cause of the occurence of fracture of compacted soils under various stress and testing condition are pointed out and discussed.From the macroscopic point of view the reason why the fracture of compacted soils can be occured even in the absence of tensile stresses is explained.