Abstract
Gravel soil is usually considered to be insensitive to frost heave. However, many frost heave deformations of foundation in seasonal frozen region indicate that gravel soil may also produce frost heave under certain special conditions. In order to gain a deep insight into the frost heave characteristics of gravel soil, a series of laboratory experiments on one-dimensional frost heave were conducted under the open- and closed-water replenishing condition using an improved experiment apparatus. The influence of various factors including initial moisture content, clay content, compactness, overlying load, and water replenishing on frost-heaving ratio of gravel soil were analyzed. And the basic frost heave characteristics including frost heave amount, frost heave speed, frozen depth, freezing speed, and moisture content distribution after freezing in a gravel soil sample were analyzed. The corresponding mechanisms were also discussed. Results showed that in the open water replenishing condition, there exists a linear relationship between initial moisture content, overlying load, and frost-heaving ratio and a quadratic polynomial relationship between clay content, compactness, and frost-heaving ratio. Frost-heaving ratio in the open water replenishing condition can be found to increase over three times than that under the closed water replenishing condition. Multifactor regression empirical formula was obtained by multiple regression analysis to predict the frost-heaving ratio of gravel soil under certain collocation of factors and levels under the closed water replenishing condition. The significant effects on frost-heaving ratio were, in order, water replenishing > initial moisture content > clay content > compactness > overlying load.
Highlights
Coarse-grained soils, which can show outstanding performance in compaction, shearing intensity, water permeability, and liquefaction under dynamic load, and having the advantages of rich reserves, easy access, and economical, are widely used as natural foundation materials in foundation engineering construction such as highways, railways, airports, dams, and excavations
Liu et al [8] found that the coarse-grained soils can produce obvious frost heave phenomenon under the combination of certain clay content, initial moisture content, and temperature in seasonal frozen region. us, it is significant to comprehensively research the frost heave characteristics of coarse-grained soil for effectively preventing frost heave deformations of coarse-grained soil foundation
Based on the unique climate and soil characteristics of the area, a series of laboratory experiments on the frostheaving ratio of gravel soil were carried out, under the openand closed-water replenishing conditions using an improved experiment apparatus, to research the frost heave characteristics systematically. e influence laws of factors including initial moisture content, clay content, compactness, overlying load, and water replenishing on frost-heaving ratio were summarized and discussed
Summary
Coarse-grained soils, which can show outstanding performance in compaction, shearing intensity, water permeability, and liquefaction under dynamic load, and having the advantages of rich reserves, easy access, and economical, are widely used as natural foundation materials in foundation engineering construction such as highways, railways, airports, dams, and excavations. E factors affecting the frost heave of coarse-grained soil include the following aspects: the gradation of soil particles, the content of fine particles and their mineral composition, water content, density, permeability coefficient, capillary action, and external load [35,36,37]. Based on the unique climate and soil characteristics of the area (see the 2.1 section in detail), a series of laboratory experiments on the frostheaving ratio of gravel soil were carried out, under the openand closed-water replenishing conditions using an improved experiment apparatus, to research the frost heave characteristics systematically. E influence laws of factors including initial moisture content, clay content, compactness, overlying load, and water replenishing on frost-heaving ratio were summarized and discussed. Effective suggestions were put forward for frost heave prevention and control of coarse-grained soil in seasonal frozen area
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