Stress-Strain-Strength Characteristics of Frozen Sands with Various Fine Contents

Recently, the participation on the development of the natural gas pipeline in Russia as well as the recent construction of the second Korean Antarctic research station, the Jangbogo station provide the research interests on the behavior of the permafrost ground. To investigate the effect of fines on the mechanical responses of frozen sands, unconfined compression tests were performed on the frozen sands with 0, 5, 10 and 15% of fine contents at -5, -10 and . The poorly graded (SP) Joomunjin sand and kaolinite, silt with low plasticity (ML) were used for the preparation of the frozen soil specimens. The mechanical responses of the tested soils were investigated via unconfined compression tests in the temperature controlled laboratory and analyzed in terms of peak unconfined compressive strength and secant modulus at 50% of the peak strength. As the fine contents increase, the unfrozen water contents increase and thus the strength and stiffness of frozen soils decrease. The increment of the stiffness and strength due to the temperature decrease vary with the fine contents.