Growth and migration of ice lenses in partially frozen soil

The behavior of ice lenses was observed by using an extremely frost-susceptible and water-saturated clay in an experiment of long-term frost heaving for which a constant thermal regime was maintained in an open system, whereby the total heave, and the location and thickness of ice lenses were measured for 6044 hours. Accompanied with water intake, frost heave occurred in a specimen, and the heave did not converge upon a constant value. It was observed that several ice lenses grew simultaneously in the frozen part of the specimen, even though the temperature profile in it attained an equilibrium state. It follows from the experimental result that the frozen part allows water to migrate through it, as accounted for by regelation, and that the rate of regelation leads us to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of frozen soil.