FIELD EVALUATION OF CRITERIA FOR FROST SUSCEPTIBILITY OF SOILS

Field data on frost heave, thaw weakening, and frost penetration acquired over a period of 3 years at the Winchendon field test site are analyzed. These data show that simple grain-size criteria such as the percent of particles smaller than 0.075 or 0.02 mm correlate weakly with field performance. Although soils with few fines (particles smaller than 0.075 mm) performed well in the field test, some of those with intermediate and many fines performed well and some poorly, with a great deal of scatter. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Frost Design Classification System and tabulated freeze test data provided very wide ranges of frost susceptibility compared with the field performance of the 12 test soils. Comparisons of the field frost heave data with data on soils in freezing conditions from the Massachusetts Department of Public Works heave stress test on nonplastic soils and with data from the new freeze-thaw test of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) show excellent correlations. The thaw-weakening California bearing ratio (CBR) data from the CRREL freeze-thaw test correlated well with the resilient deflections from repeated plate bearing (RPB) tests in the field. Frost penetration depths calculated by the modified Berggren formula are in general agreement with, but somewhat larger than, the frost penetrations measured at the Winchendon field test site. This may possibly be due to the effects of freezing-point depressions of soil moisture, approximations in the adjustment of air to ground surface temperatures, and other factors not accounted for in the field test.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1988/1190/1190-009.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=FIELD+EVALUATION+OF+CRITERIA+FOR+FROST+SUSCEPTIBILITY+OF+SOILS&author=L.+Edgers&author=L.+Bedingfield&author=N.+Bono&publication_year=1988
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1190, Artificial Ground Freezing and Soil Stabilization. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Edgers, Lewis
  • Bedingfield, Laurinda
  • Bono, Nancy
• Publication Date: 1988

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 73-85
• Monograph Title: Artificial ground freezing and soil stabilization
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1190
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: California bearing ratio; Correlation analysis; Data analysis; Field studies; Freeze thaw tests; Frost; Frost heaving; Frost susceptibility; Grain size (Geology); Mathematical analysis; Performance; Plate bearing test; Soils; Strength of materials; Thaw
• Uncontrolled Terms: Field data; Field performance; Frost penetration; Thaw weakening
• Old TRIS Terms: Frost heave
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Geotechnology; Highways; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00488737
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309047587
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 31 1989 12:00AM