  The objective of this work is a physical prediction of such soil shrinkage
anisotropy characteristics as variation with drying of (i) different
sample/layer sizes and (ii) the shrinkage geometry factor. With that, a new
presentation of the shrinkage anisotropy concept is suggested through the
sample/layer size ratios. The work objective is reached in two steps. First,
the relations are derived between the indicated soil shrinkage anisotropy
characteristics and three different shrinkage curves of a soil relating to:
small samples (without cracking at shrinkage), sufficiently large samples (with
internal cracking), and layers of similar thickness. Then, the results of a
recent work with respect to the physical prediction of the three shrinkage
curves are used. These results connect the shrinkage curves with the initial
sample size/layer thickness as well as characteristics of soil texture and
structure (both inter- and intra-aggregate) as physical parameters. The
parameters determining the reference shrinkage curve (relating to the small
samples) and initial sample size/layer thickness are needed for the prediction
of the above soil shrinkage anisotropy characteristics. Using the available
data on two soils and samples of two essentially different sizes, illustrative
estimates of the relative sample sizes, new characteristic of the shrinkage
anisotropy, and shrinkage geometry factor are given as the physically predicted
values.
