Experimental Studies on the Compressive Strength of the Frozen Soils

동결토의 압축강도에 관한 실험적 연구

Upon freezing a soil swells due to phase change and its compression stress increase a lot. As the soil undergo thawing, however, it becomes a soft soil layer because the 'soil changes from a solid state to a plastic state. These changes are largely dependent on freezing temperature and repeated freezing-thawing cycle as well as the density of the soil and applied loading condition. This study was initiated to describe the effect of the freezing temperature and repeated freezing-thawing cycle on the unconfined compressive strength. Soil samples were collected at about 20 sites where soil structures were installed in Kangwon provincial area and necessary laboratory tests were conducted. The results could be used to help manage effectively the field structures and can be used as a basic data for designing and constructing new projects in the future. The results were as follows ; 1. Unconfined compressive strength decreased as the number of freezing and thawing cycle went up. But the strength increased as compression speed, water content and temperature decreased. The largest effect on the strength was observed at the first freezing and thawing cycle. 2. Compression strain went up with the increase of deformation speed, and was largely influenced by the number of the freezing-thawing cycle. 3. Secant modulus was responded sensitivefy to the material of the loading plates, increased with decrease of temperature down to - -10$^{\circ}$C, but was nearly constant below the temperature. Thixotropic ratio characteristic became large as compression strain got smaller and was significantly larger in the controlled soil than in the soil treated with freezing and thawing processes 4. Vertical compression strength of ice crystal(development direction) was 3 to 4 times larger than that of perpendicular to the crystal. The vertical compression strength was agreed well with Clausius-Clapeyrons equation when temperature were between 0 to 5C$^{\circ}$, but the strength below - 5$^{\circ}$C were different from the equation and showed a strong dependency on temperature and deformation speed. When the skew was less then 20 degrees, the vertical compression strength was gradually decreased but when the skew was higher than that, the strength became nearly constant. Almost all samples showed ductile failure. As considered above, strength reduction of the soil due to cyclic freezing-thawing prosses must be considered when trenching and cutting the soil to construct soil structures if the soil is likely subject to the processes. Especially, if a soil no freezing-thawing history, cares for the strength reduction must be given before any design or construction works begin. It is suggested that special design and construction techniques for the strength reduction be developed.