Maize seedlings are grown in Hostun sand with two different gradings and two different densities. The root-soil system is imaged daily for the first 8 days of plant growth with X-ray computed tomography. Segmentation, skeletonisation and digital image correlation techniques are used to analyse the evolution of the root system architecture, the displacement fields and the local strain fields due to plant growth in the soil. It is found that root thickness and root length density do not depend on the initial soil configuration. However, the depth of the root tip is strongly influenced by the initial soil density, and the number of laterals is impacted by grain size, which controls pore size, capillary rise and thus root access to water. Consequently, shorter root axes are observed in denser sand and fewer second order roots are observed in coarser sands. In all soil configurations tested, root growth induces shear strain in the soil around the root system, and locally, in the vicinity of the first order roots axis. Root-induced shear is accompanied by dilative volumetric strain close to the root body. Further away, the soil experiences dilation in denser sand and compaction in looser sand. These results suggest that the increase of porosity close to the roots can be caused by a mix of shear strain and steric exclusion.

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The influence of the soil on the growth of a root system has been largely investigated. By contrast, the aim of this work is to go deep into the details of how the soil may be influenced by the root system. In particular, the root growth process and its potential to improve the soil strength is explored. Even though roots can be seen as fiber-like reinforcements, their growth changes the soil microstructure. Consequently, one of the objectives is to understand how the water content and the soil displacement fields evolve when an inclusion expands radially and axially. In particular, an investigation was carried on to characterise the deformation of the solid phase of the soil, due to the root growth. A series of in-vivo x-ray tomographies was acquired with Maize seeds growing roots into a coarse Hostun HN1.5-2 sand. Digital Image Correlation is used to calculate the soil 3D displacement fields around the growing plant roots.