Fundamental Behavior of Seasonally Frozen Ground
Abstract
The goal of this proposal is to create an experimental platform at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) to fundamentally understand the behavior of the seasonally frozen ground with weathering cycles. The near-surface soils in the seasonally frozen ground areas undergo freezing, thawing, drying, and wetting within a year, causing significant changes to the land surface characteristics, including physical and mechanical properties. Current testing practices on frozen soils are mainly limited to freeze-thaw cycles, which do not truly represent the in-situ conditions of the near-surface soils. Funds are requested to purchase and develop a stateof- the-art environment controlled triaxial testing equipment that can simulate all weathering cycles and continuously measure the changes in the soilsÕ physical, thermal, and mechanical properties along with moisture changes. Currently, no equipment combines unsaturated testing, frozen soil testing, bender element, and temperature control in tri-axial test equipment. The unique testing capabilities of the proposed equipment will enable us to understand how the continuous weathering cycles, including wetting, drying, freezing, and thawing effects, the soil-structure, soil physical and mechanical properties, phase changes of moisture, and behavior of the soils that provide insights into surface processes. The environment controlled triaxial equipment will be amenable to a broad range of laboratory measurements pertaining to knowledge gaps including moisture migration and resulting surface perturbations during the freezing period, excess pore water pressures and corresponding strength weakening of the soils during thawing period, leaching of chemicals in the seasonally frozen ground, mechanical behavior of soils that undergo all the four cycles. The equipment will be used in future research projects to address the specific unresolved challenges described above and to complement the PI current research on frozen ground. Results from these research projects will facilitate advances in the field of geotechnical and geological engineering, training of undergraduate students, and graduate students. These efforts and advances will support the ARO and CRREL interests in understanding and predicting the mechanical behavior of various geomaterials, including sands, clays, and rocks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2021
- Source ID
- W911NF2110017
Entities
People
- Tejo Bheemasetti
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
- United States Army