Abstract
Soils and industrial waste in various geotechnical engineering applications are expected to experience freezing and thawing processes in various regions of the world where the winter and summer temperatures fluctuate between sub-zero and positive ambient temperatures. In this study laboratory tests were undertaken on three materials (Speswhite kaolin, Pegwell Bay soil and a cement kiln dust). A custom-made test set up was used to carry out the laboratory tests involving freezing and thawing processes. Initially saturated-slurried and compacted-saturated samples of the selected materials were subjected to one cycle of freezing and thawing to study the influence of material type and initial conditions on the one-dimensional frost heave and thaw settlement. The test results showed that the type of material and the initial conditions of the materials prior to the freezing process influenced the frost heave, frost heave rate, velocity of water flow, segregation potential, and thaw settlement. Compacted-saturated materials showed a tendency to exhibit a greater magnitude of frost heave as compared to their saturated-slurried counterparts.
Highlights
Studies associated with the impact of seasonal climatic processes involving freezing and thawing on the engineering behaviour of soils are extremely relevant due to their extensive use in a wide range of civil engineering applications
The investigation was carried out on three different materials, namely a kaolinite-rich clay (Speswhite kaolin), a frost susceptible natural soil collected from Pegwell Bay, UK (Pegwell Bay soil), and a cement kiln dust collected from a local (South Wales, UK) cement industry
This paper presented the freezing and thawing test results of initially saturated slurried and compactedsaturated specimens of Speswhite kaolin, Pegwell Bay soil and cement kiln dust
Summary
Studies associated with the impact of seasonal climatic processes involving freezing and thawing on the engineering behaviour of soils are extremely relevant due to their extensive use in a wide range of civil engineering applications. The freezing process may affect all soil types, but usually has a significant impact on frost susceptible soils. When soils with significant fine-fractions are subjected to freezing, frost heave (volume increase due to formation of ice within the soil system) occurs as a result of two simultaneous processes, namely (i) the pore water in the soil freezes in situ and (ii) the water from the unfrozen soil, or from an external source, is drawn to the segregation freezing front where it freezes at sub-zero temperatures, leading to the development of ice lenses and further heave [2]. Clayey soils with higher plasticity properties possess high water holding capacity and may exhibit significant frost heave and thaw settlement. An increase in the hydraulic conductivity and a decrease in the shear strength are some issues related to freeze-thaw cycling of soils [5,6]
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