Determination of the freezing effect on unconfined compression strength and permeability of saturated granular soils

Abstract

Artificial ground freezing usage gradually rises in civil engineering applications as a soil supporting system. However, many unknown fundamental parameters have been still waiting discovery, especially for granular soil. Granular soil can not carry its own weight during unconfined conditions. If water turns to ice that locates in the soil pores, it proceeds as a cementitious material. First step of design phenomena is to identify the material properties in geotechnical engineering. Within this scope, unconfined compression tests (UCC) and permeability tests are performed on frozen granular soils subjected to 1, 3 and 7 day-freezing periods to observe time effect. Experimental procedure are applied totally on 12 sand and gravel type of specimens with saturated cases after freezing application in the CDF/CIF freezing thawing machine. Stress - strain behaviors, ultimate load capacities and permeability of specimens are determined. This method will be used while taking undisturbed granular soil samples from the construction site.