Cryogenic texture and strength aspects of artificially frozen soils

This paper elucidates some factors affecting the formation of soil cryogenic textures upon artificial active and passive soil freezing to form a soil-ice wall cofferdam.

Depending upon the soil type, the thermal regimen of the stages of active and passive freezing of the soil-ice wall brings about various kinds of cryogenic textures. The cryogenic textures, in thier turn, affect the strength of the artificially frozen soil-ice wall.

It is shown that upon loading, the variously oriented hexagonally crystallized ice crystals, upon application of externally applied loads, may become subjected to compression or bending or shear stresses, and/or to a combination of such stresses. Also, sustained loads on a frozen soil may bring about time-dependent, long-term deformation of the ice, viz., frozen soil, known as the rheological phenomenon creep.

It is postulated that the strength and performance of the composite frozen soil—the ice wall—is a function of its components, such as the soil cryogenic texture, its thermal regimen and the strength of the ice. It is also pointed out that the performance of the ice wall should be evaluated in terms of its strength and strains.