Abstract
Recently many countries have become interested in the development of cold or arctic regions. The construction of engineered structures in those regions demands an understanding of the deformation characteristics of frozen soil. However, an understanding of frozen soil behavior poses difficult problems owing to the complex interaction between the soil particles and the ice matrix. In this research, a series of laboratory tests was performed to investigate the variations in the unconfined compression strength and split tensile strength of weathered granite soil and mixed soil (standard sand and kaolinite) in 15 degrees below zero environments. In the frozen soil tests, specimens were prepared with various water and clay contents, and then the interrelationships between four factors (water content, clay content, unconfined compression strength, split tensile strength) were analyzed. The test results were summarized as follows; as the water content was increased, the unconfined compressive and split tensile strengths also increased in frozen soil. However as the clay content was increased, the unconfined compressive and split tensile strengths were lowered. In the case of frozen soil that contained little clay content, the strength decreased rapidly in mixed soil (standard sand and kaolinite) when the frozen specimen was broken. On the other hand, in the cases of mixed soil that contained a high clay content and weathered granite soil, the strength decreased relatively slowly.
