## 3 Results and Discussion
### Stability of the Macrostructure  
The particle size distributions of the uncompacted bentonite, both as received (\(w\) = 4.5%) and with a water content of \(w\) = 10%, are presented in Table 3. The data are displayed in differential terms, whereby each numerical value represents the percentage by weight of MU with a size between the sieve aperture interval (class interval) indicated in each case. Nine class intervals and class marks are defined for the aggregate size ranges according to the sieve apertures where the different MU fractions are retained. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Particle Size Distribution (\(\mu\)m)**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Plasticity**} \\ \hline
**d10** & **d50** & **d90** & **Mean** & **\textgreater{}63 \(\mu\)m (\%)** & **LL** & **PL** & **PI/LL** & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **T\({}_{\text{max}}\)** \\ **(k/m\({}^{3}\))** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Class.** \\ **Plasticity/Texture** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline
1.1 & 5.1 & 44.9 & 13.1 & 3.8 & 459.7 & 43.4 & 416.3 & 0.91 & 73.5 & CH/Clay \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Characterization results of the Wyoming bentonite under study. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Aggregate Size** & **Class** & **Class Marks** & **Bentonite (wt.\%)** \\
**(mm)** & **Intervals** & **(mm)** & **As Received** & \(w\) = **10\%** \\ \hline \textgreater{}10 & 1 & 15 & 0.0 & 0.0 \\ \textasci{}10 & 2 & 7.5 & 0.0 & 0.0 \\ \textasci{}10 & 3 & 3.5 & 0.5 & 0.5 \\ \textasci{}1.25–2 & 4 & 1.63 & 2.3 & 2.6 \\ \textasci{}0.63–1.25 & 5 & 0.94 & 5.4 & 11.2 \\ \textasci{}0.40–0.63 & 6 & 0.52 & 26.7 & 24.3 \\ \textasci{}0.16–0.40 & 7 & 0.28 & 39.5 & 37.4 \\ \textasci{}0.08–0.16 & 8 & 0.12 & 13.8 & 13.1 \\ The evolution of MU size distribution (MUSD) as a function of shaking time and degree of compaction (dry density) is depicted in Figure 3 and detailed as Supplementary Material in Table S1. Figure 3: Evolution of the frequencies associated with the nine size intervals defined in Table 3 with respect to shaking time for average dry densities of: (**a**) 1.40 g/cm\({}^{3}\); (**b**) 1.57 g/cm\({}^{3}\); and (**c**) 1.74 g/cm\({}^{3}\). Taking as reference the target dry densities for each degree of compaction, i.e., 1.40 g/cm\({}^{3}\) (low compaction), 1.60 g/cm\({}^{3}\) (medium compaction), and 1.80 g/cm\({}^{3}\) (high compaction), similar dry densities were obtained for the low and medium compaction energies for which the target density was reached (Table S1). In the case of the highest compaction, one specimen presented a dry density of 1.72 g/cm\({}^{3}\) and another of 1.75 g/cm\({}^{3}\), and it was not possible to obtain higher density values because the compressive capacity of the press was exceeded. However, both samples showed similar disaggregation behavior. Although more tests with different types of soils are advisable, the results in Table S1 point to the satisfactory repeatability of the shaking process. Taking this into account, to avoid redundancies in the discussion of the results, the average results for each pair of compaction conditions are analyzed, considering an average density of 1.74 g/cm\({}^{3}\) for the high compaction test. The first aspect to be addressed is the analysis of how disaggregation of the samples evolves. The testing time is a first indicator of this parameter; therefore, in the less compacted specimens, it was 600 s (10 min), while in the medium and highly compacted samples, it was extended to 1800 s (30 min) and 3000 s (50 min), respectively. An appropriate and simple way to study the disaggregation evolution in quantitative terms is to focus on the fraction in class interval 1 (wt.% retained by the 10 mm sieve), which includes the original pieces prepared as shown in Figure 1d. Structural stability at low compaction (\(\rho_{\rm d}\) = 1.40 g/cm\({}^{3}\)) is relatively poor (fast disaggregation), since MU with a diameter equal to or greater than 10 mm crumbled completely before 5 min of shaking (Figure 3a).