Processed XCT, pore-network, and DVC data for rainfall-induced physical crusting and drying-induced cracking in loess soil

This dataset contains processed and derived X-ray computed tomography (XCT), pore-network, and digital volume correlation (DVC) data from a laboratory study of rainfall-induced physical crusting and drying-induced cracking in loess soil. Soil cores were collected from an agricultural loess soil in Yangling, Shaanxi Province, China, and subjected to antecedent rainfall treatments of 0, 10, 15, and 25 min before controlled drying. The dataset includes surface-aligned porosity profiles, crust-thickness estimates, layer-resolved pore metrics for a 0–3 mm near-surface shell and a 3–10 mm subsurface band, pore-network descriptors, DVC-derived strain summaries, selected DVC raster outputs, figure source data, and processing code. These data were used to evaluate how rainfall-induced physical crusting modifies near-surface pore topology, pore isolation, and tensile-strain localization during drying. The package contains available processed and derived data rather than a complete raw XCT archive; original large-volume XCT projection data, full reconstructed grayscale volumes, and complete Avizo/Dragonfly project files are not included.