Effect of Temperature Gradients on the Frost Heave of a Saturated Silty Clay with a Water Supply
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 31, Issue 4
Abstract
Frost heave is the primary cause of frost damage in cold regions. For frost-susceptible soils, water migration induced by a temperature gradient is a key factor in determining the frost heave of the soils with a water supply during the freezing process. This study looked at the effect of temperature gradients on frost heave through a series of one-directional freezing experiments for a saturated silty clay with a water supply under a variety of temperature gradients. The results indicate that the deformation and water intake of the saturated silty clay with water supply increase with the temperature gradient. The water intake of the soil begins when the freezing front drops to a critical advance rate, which is linearly related to the temperature gradient. However, even if the freezing front is stationary (advance rate of zero), a small temperature gradient is still needed to induce water intake by the soil and to cause a sizeable frost heave. The temperature gradient and the freezing rate can be regarded as two macroindexes that indicate the frost heave of soils with a water supply during the freezing process.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the 100-Talent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Granted to Dr. Mingyi Zhang), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41471063), the Program of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering (Grant No. SKLFSE-ZT-23), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. QYZDY-SSW-DQC015), and the STS Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. HHS-TSS-STS-1502).
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Published In
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 4 • December 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 11, 2016
Accepted: Feb 24, 2017
Published online: May 10, 2017
Discussion open until: Oct 10, 2017
Published in print: Dec 1, 2017
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