A Comparison of Soil Improvement Techniques for Frost Heave Mitigation

Abstract

Frost action including frost heaving and thaw weakening is a common phenomenon in cold regions, which cover geographically more than half of the land area of the earth. Frost action has long been a nightmare in the management of built infrastructure in cold regions. It causes damage to transportation infrastructures and many other earth structures subjected to freezing and thawing. Cracked pavements, jacked up bridge foundations, tilted structures, malfunctioning utilities, broken pipelines, etc., all are examples of damage suffered from frost action. Billions of dollars are spent every year for repair and maintenance of the infrastructure in cold regions. Based on the records of the national transportation research group TRIP (The Road Information Program), the U.S. government spends over 2 billion dollars per year on rebuilding the thousands of miles of pavement that are destroyed by frost action, without counting the cost of the maintenance and minor damages reparations.

Soil improvement techniques for frost heave mitigation has been started ever since 1960’s. The mechanism for each technique is to prevent at least one out of the three requirements for frost heave (1) frost-susceptible soil, (2) supply of unfrozen water, and (3) appropriate freezing temperature, from fulfilling. Several sustainability treatments to the soils are proved to be effective, for instance Portland cement, lime, electro-osmosis dewatering and hydrophobic layer etc. In this paper, the mechanism for each frost heave mitigation techniques are reviewed and summarized. A comparison of mechanism, suited soil types and the effects on the treated soils between different techniques are listed. The pater will be beneficial for departments dealing with infrastructures built in cold regions.