Frost heave of unsaturated loamy soil under field conditions

A study on the heaving properties of morainal loamy soil was carried out under field conditions on two grounds. The loamy soils with broken structures were situated in the form of embankments of different density on the first ground.

On the second ground the heave of the morainal loamy soil with unbroken structure was investigated. On this ground concrete foundations were laid 1 × 1 m in size and with pressures at the foot of 0.005 MPa, 0.025 MPa, 0.05 MPa and 0.1 MPa. Besides, some foundations were placed on the surface, and the foot of the others was 0.5 m below the surface of the ground.

The intensity of the heave of the morainal loamy soils is determined by the value of volumetrical moisture. Migration of moisture took place from thawed layers situated below to the boundary of freezing during the whole period of freezing.

The increase of the external pressure upon the foundation (up to 0.1 MPa) did not result in a decrease of displacements of the most loaded foundations. The deformations of the foundation during its freezing and thawing in the limits of the foot of one foundation were relatively un-uniform. The relative deformation foundation value at maximal freezing ranged from 0.0014 to 0.014. During the thawing of the freezing loamy soil the relative deformation of the foot of experimental foundations ranged from 0.002 to 0.048. During the thawing the largest un-uniformity of the sediment corresponded to the most loaded foundations.

The distribution of the loamy soil heave value in the limits of the experimental ground may be considered subjected to the normal law of distribution.