Frost heave theory of saturated soil coupling water/heat flow and its application

Frost heaving pressures are influenced strongly on the freezing rate and also overburden pressure. With this relationship, the author proposes new idea for frost heave pressure by simultaneous flow of water and heat. And to confirm the validity of this idea, frost heave tests were conducted in an open system where the water intake/discharge was not restricted, in an overburden pressure of 0.2 to 25.6 kgf/cm2 with a cooling rate of -0.0052 to -5.0°C/h, using frost heave test equipment. Results showed that the freezing expansion coefficient tended to increase with decreasing pressure and lowering cooling rate. Also the expansion coefficient appeared nonlinear to the overburden pressure. The freezing rate tended to decrease suddenly with lowered overburden pressure. Comparison of these results with values calculated from proposed frost heave theory presented a fairly good approximation of the two.