Predicting changes in the mechanical properties of frozen saline soils

Abstract

This article summarises a laboratory program involving over 100 tests that were performed to study the influence of soil type, temperature, water content and salinity on the strength and creep of frozen soils under uniaxial compression and shear tests. Analyses of experimental data allowed to get equations for predicting strength and creep parameters depending on the temperature and salinity using generalising parameters for frozen soils (freezing point and the concentration of pore solution). These parameters reflect the total impact of all factors (soil type, salinity and water content) in forming a single pattern for all types of soil. The developed theory of searching for generalised dependencies showed a good convergence for predicting the strength and creep characteristics of frozen soils.

Keywords:

• Mechanical properties
• strength
• deformation
• temperature
• testing
• frozen saline soil
• salinity

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their useful and constructive comments that significantly improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.