Edwin J. Chamberlain

Effect of Freezing and Thawing on the Permeability and Structure of Soils

Chamberlain, E.J. and Gow, A.J., 1979. Effect of freezing and thawing on the permeability and structure of soils. Eng. Geol., 13: 73–92. The permeability and structure of four fine-grained soils were observed to be changed by freezing and thawing. In all cases freezing and thawing caused a reduction in void ratio and an increase in vertical permeability. The increase in permeability is attributed to the formation of polygonal shrinkage cracks and/or to the reduction of the volume of fines in the pores of the coarse fraction, the mechanism controlling the process depending on material type. No definite relationships are established; however, it appears that the largest increase in permeability occurs for the soil of highest plasticity.

Overconsolidation effects of ground freezing

ABSTRACT Chamberlain, E.J., 1981. Overconsolidation effects of ground freezing. Eng. Geol., 18: 97-110. Temporary ground freezing is a valuable technique for stabilizing soft soils during construction. It imparts large increases in strength and bearing capacity to most soils. However, freezing can cause significant changes in soil structure and density which can lead to adverse settlement during thaw. Settlement of clay soils after freezing and thawing is the result of the suction forces that draw pore water to the freezing front. These suction forces cause an increase in the effective stress on the clay beneath the freezing front, and thus cause an overconsolidation of the clay. As these suction forces often exceed 1 atm, their direct measurement is not easy. A technique for indirectly determining the maximum suction occurring during freezing is presented which utilizes the apparent memory that clay soils have for maximum past (preconsolidation) pressures. Suctions as large as 532 kN m-2 were observed after freezing and thawing a clay soil which was initially consolidated to 128 kN m-2. The volume changes resulting from the freezing and thawing of clays were related to the plastic limit and were observed in the laboratory to be as high as 25%. If provisions are not made to account for these volume changes in a ground freezing project, considerable damage to structures can occur from settlement and the resulting stresses.

Determining subsea permafrost characteristics with a cone penetrometer — Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Abstract Sediments beneath the Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, were probed at 27 sites using a static cone penetrometer to determine engineering properties and distribution of material types, including ice-bonded sediments. The probe, designed and constructed at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, provided both point and casing resistance data and thermal profiles. At five sites these data were correlated with information from adjacent drilled and sampled holes. These control data and the quality of the probe information permitted profiles of sediment type and occurrence of ice-bonded material to be developed along three lines that included various geological features and depositional environments. Material properties were quite variable in the upper 14 m of sediments probed. In general, softer, finer-grained sediments occurred in the upper layers, while penetration refusal was met in stiff gravels 10 to 12 m below the seabed. Seabed temperatures during the study were all below 0°C. However, because of uncertainties in freezing point values caused by brines, evaluation of the penetration resistance data was required to identify the occurrence of ice-bonded sediments. The coupling of thermal and penetration resistance data revealed that seasonally ice-bonded sediments occurred where the sea ice froze back to or near the seabed. Deeper, perennially frozen sediments also appeared to be present at several probe sites.

Seafloor temperature and conductivity data from Stefansson Sound, Alaska

Abstract Overconsolidated sediments, seasonal seafloor freezing, and ice-bonded permafrost are unique features in shallow arctic coastal waters. They are related to low seawater temperatures and varying salinities. Seabed temperatures can be less than −1.0°C for much of the year, with noticeable warming occurring only during the summer months. Observations from recent deployment of three instruments in Stefansson Sound and data from an earlier deployment, which included sites in Harrison Bay, showed decreasing mean annual seafloor temperatures with increasing water depth, ranging from −0.9°C in 4.4 m of water to −1.6°C in 14 m of water. Salinities also varied seasonally, with noticeable freshening developing during the summer and highly uniform values occurring during the winter. Periodic temperature and salinity measurements at sites in Stefansson Sound, made during August 1987 and August 1989, also helped verify the data obtained with the seabottom instruments. Seasonal freezing of the seabed can begin in late September and may noticeably change its engineering properties. In areas of coarse-grained sediments, ice bonding and strengthening of the seabed can result. In areas of fine-grained sediments it appears that seasonal freezing of the seafloor can cause overconsolidation of the seabed sediments. This densification process can result in a significant permanent increase in strength.

Effect of freeze—thaw cycles on resilient properties of fine-grained soils

Abstract Stress-deformation data for silt and clay subgrade soils were obtained from in-situ tests and laboratory tests, for use in mechanistic models for design of pavements that will experience freezing and thawing. Plate-bearing tests were run on in-service allbituminous-concrete (ABC) pavements constructed directly on silt subgrade, and on an experimental ABC pavement constructed on clay subgrade, applying repeated loads to the pavement surfaces while the subgrade was frozen, thawing, thawed, and fully recovered. The in-service pavement had experienced several seasons of natural cyclic freezing and thawing, while the experimental pavement was artificially frozen and thawed twice. Repeated-load laboratory triaxial compression tests were performed on the same soils in the frozen and thawed states. Analysis of deflection data from the in-situ tests showed resilient moduli of the subgrade soils up to more than 10 GPa when frozen, as low as 2 MPa during the thawing period, and up to more than 100 MPa when fully recovered. Analysis of the laboratory tests, which gave moduli comparable to the latter values, showed that resilient modulus and Poissons ratio in the thawed and recovering conditions can be expressed as a function of the stress state, the moisture content, and the dry density.