Analysis of Freezing Induced Soil Shrinkage with Implications Regarding Structural Change

D. F. Dagesse

In the proceedings of: GeoVancouver 2016: 69th Canadian Geotechnical Conference

Session: COLD REGIONS ENGINEERING

ABSTRACT: Volumetric expansion during freezing suggests that, at high water contents, pore ice growth would result in an increase in bulk soil volume. However, when the soil is viewed as a non-rigid porous media, such freezing induced bulk volume increases may not always occur, and at lower water contents the soil may experience bulk soil shrinkage. The soil freezing characteristic curve has been favourably compared to the soil moisture characteristic or water retention curve. The shape of the freezing induced bulk soil shrinkage curve may thus theoretically be used to delineate structural changes in the soil during freezing, leading to elucidation of the effects of the freezing process on soil structure. A thermodynamically derived constitutive shrinkage equation is fitted to freezing induced volume change data. The resultant differentiable equation allows precise estimation of the water contents associated with different regions of the shrinkage curve. These regions may, in turn, be related to both independently determined soil properties and the observed changes in soil structure resulting from freezing. This analysis is performed on a data set of freezing induced soil shrinkage in two soils with different clay contents.

RÉSUMÉ: teneur en eau, la formation de la glace interstitielle pourrait entraîner une augmentation du volume du sol en vrac. Cependant, lorsque le sol est un milieu poreux non-l en vrac dans le Ainsi, la forme de la courbe de rétrécissement du sol en vrac par le gel pourrait théoriquement correspondre à des changements structurels dans le sol pendant le gel, et expliquer les effets du processus de congélation de la structure du sol. Une équation constitutive du rétrécissement du sol, fondée sur des principes thermodynamiques, est adaptée aux données sur la variation de volume points de la courbe de rétrécissement. Ces points sont associés à des propriétés diverses du sol, ou à des changements observés dans la structure et causés par le gel. Cette analyse est réalisée sur un ensemble de données sur le rétrécissement du sol par le gel dans deux sols à différentes teneurs en argile.

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