Measurement of suction pressure generated in the process of frost heaving in rock

Abstract

Recently it has been found that frost heave phenomena can be seen not also in soil but also in rock. It is obvious, however, that the number of researches on frost heaving in rock is much less than that of researches on frost heaving in soil. In the present research, we newly developed test equipment in which a pressure transducer is incorporated into a device for testing frost heave in rock. Frost heaving tests were performed using three types of rocks (Ohya tuff, which is soft rock with high frost susceptibility; Kimachi sandstone, which is medium-hard rock with low frost susceptibility; and Sapporo soft rock, which is non-frost-heaving soft rock) to measure the suction pressure generated in the process of frost heaving. In these tests, we obtained fairly large negative pressures for Ohya tuff and Kimachi sandstone. The maximum negative pressure observed in highly frost susceptible Ohya tuff was -52.5 kPa, and that in less frost susceptible Kimachi sandstone was -36.1 kPa. In hard Kimachi sandstone, negative pressure was generated before frost heaving displacement started. On the other hand, negative pressure was not generated in non-frost-heaving Sapporo soft rock. Therefore we considered that frost heaving in rock might be caused by negative pressure generated in the process of frost heaving.