Influence of fines on frost heave characteristics of a well-graded base-course material

Abstract

The influence of fines on the frost susceptibility of base-course crushed aggregates was established by laboratory freezing tests simulating closely the thermal conditions in the field. The frost susceptibility of the fines was varied by use of different mixtures of granitic fines and commercially available kaolinite clay. A total of 13 samples with fines content of 5%, 10%, and 15% and kaolinite fractions of 10%, 50%, 75%, and 100% were subjected to four freeze–thaw cycles. The frost susceptibility of well-graded crushed aggregates increases with increasing fines content and increasing kaolinite fraction. From a quantitative point of view, for a given kaolinite fraction, the segregation potential increases linearly with fines content, until the fines create a matrix in which the coarser particles are embedded. For the material studied, this occurs when the fines content is higher than 15%. For a given fines content, it was also established that the segregation potential increases linearly with kaolinite fraction, indicating the importance of mineralogy. It was also established that appropriate thermal testing conditions need to be adopted to prevent undue pore water extraction from the unfrozen soil close to the frost front during laboratory freezing of unsaturated coarse-grained soils.Key words: coarse grained, soil, frost susceptibility, pavements, laboratory, fines.