Small-strain deformation behaviour of a clay at frozen and unfrozen states: A comparative study

Abstract

The small-strain deformation behaviour of frozen high-plasticity clay, and the factors influencing it were investigated through parallel tests at frozen and unfrozen states. The first and second series involved temperature-controlled triaxial compression tests on unfrozen and frozen samples, respectively, with accurate strain measurement with local displacement sensors, fully calibrated for cold environment. The small-strain loading was conducted at different axial strain rates and temperatures. At pre-yield small strains in order of 0.001%, Young’s modulus was independent of the strain rate, in a same manner as in unfrozen soils. The strain rate only affected the onset of small-scale yielding and the degradation of stiffness after that. The elastic strain range was greater at lower temperature, but the degree of stress-strain non-linearity seen at small strains remained on the whole similar between frozen and unfrozen states. An interesting feature of the frozen clay’s stiffness, also confirmed by third test series adopting bender elements, is that it decreases when the soil is frozen from higher effective stress. A simple model was proposed to explain this feature.