Multiphysical Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Frost Heave and Thaw Settlement

Abstract

A good portion of silty soils and clays is characterized by susceptibility to frost heaving. These soils may have dramatically different properties and exhibit large growth upon freezing, depending on the thermal state. A thermal process could significantly change the quantitative content of the soil mixture components, and alter the mixture microstructure. An increase in soil strength along with frost heave occurs as the soil freezes, while during the melting process, settlement and thaw weakening is expected. Both frost heave and thaw settlement may cause significant damage to the infrastructure. In this paper, a THM model (thermal-hydro-mechanical) will be introduced first, describing the multi-physical nature of freezing and thawing soils. The model includes elastic-plastic constitutive relationship based on the critical state framework. The influence of ice content is introduced into modified Cam clay model to capture the stress-deformation behavior and strength evolution of the soil subjected to loading and temperature changes. The model was implemented into the finite element system ABAQUS and was calibrated using experimental data. A soil column subjected to freezing was simulated successfully, with the results being quite reasonable.