Thaw-consolidation behavior of seasonally frozen soils

Thaw-consolidation tests were conducted on more than 1000 undisturbed seasonally frozen soil samples in the laboratory. Two test methods were employed: one is loading the samples before thawing, and the other is loading the samples after they are completely thawed. The test results show that there is a certain difference between the total thaw-consolidation settlements observed in the different methods. A comparison was also made between the thaw-consolidation behavior of seasonally frozen soils and that of permanently frozen soil. The comparison shows that there are some differences between the thaw-consolidation behavior of seasonally and permanently frozen soil.