Micromechanical behavior of an unsaturated mesocracked medium

The behavior of an elastic medium containing unsaturated mesocracks is studied in the framework of micromechanics. The cracks are filled by two immiscible fluids, namely a liquid and a gas, separated by a capillary interface. Furthermore, it is assumed that the set of cracks constitutes a connected network which implies the capillary pressure is uniform over a representative elementary volume. Estimates for macroscopic strains induced by drying are derived with the tools of homogenization for disordered media. The case of an isotropic orientation of cracks in the framework of the dilute approximation is considered. When the aspect ratio is small enough, the macroscopic behavior accounting for crack opening change during drying differs significantly from the results of the linear-approach.