Pure ice frozen front unfrozen soil system: The analysis of fine-grained soil's consolidation

Experiments on the circulation of freezing and thawing show that when frozen under the conditions of proper temperature and temperature gradient, the fine-grained soil will form a pure ice - frozen front - unfrozen soil system. The unfrozen soil near the frozen front is consolidated,and its shear strength is increased significantly. This paper studies the different frozen effects of fine-grained soil and coarse-grained soil under one-dimensional circumstances using the methods of theoretical analysis and numerical calculation. The author's have come to the conclusion that unfrozen fine-grained soil is consolidated but the porosity of coarse-grained soil is nearly unchanged. At the same time, this paper proposes the consolidation mechanism of unfrozen fine-grained soil as well as the spatial distribution and time - dependent change of its porosity.