Cracking behaviors and hydrothermal migration in clayey soils under wetting-drying-freeze-thaw cycles

The laboratory soil column experiments were conducted to investigate the surface crack development of clayey soil and the internal hydrothermal distribution under multiple wetting-drying-freeze-thaw (W-D-F-T) cycles. This dataset includes near-surface meteorological parameters (air temperature and relative humidity), crack parameters (crack ratio, width, and length), as well as soil temperature and volumetric water content. Meteorological data were collected using temperature and humidity sensors; crack parameters were obtained through image processing; and soil temperature and moisture content were measured using temperature probes and moisture sensors, respectively.