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Triaxial compression strength for artificial frozen clay with thermal gradient

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Abstract

A series of triaxial compression tests for frozen clay were performed by K0DCGF (freezing with non-uniform temperature under loading after K 0 consolidation) method and GFC (freezing with non-uniform temperature without experiencing K 0 consolidation) method at various confining pressures and thermal gradients. The experimental results indicate that the triaxial compression strength for frozen clay in K0DCGF test increases with the increase of confining pressure, but it decreases as the confining pressure increases further in GFC test. In other words, the compression strength for frozen clay with identical confining pressure decreases with the increase in thermal gradient both in K0DCGF test and GFC test. The strength of frozen clay in K0DCGF test is dependent of pore ice strength, soil particle strength and interaction between soil skeleton and pore ice. The decrease of water content and distance between soil particles leads to the decrease of pore size and the increase of contact area between particles in K0DCGF test, which further results in a higher compression strength than that in GFC test. The compression strength for frozen clay with thermal gradient can be descried by strength for frozen clay with a uniform temperature identical to the temperature at the height of specimen where the maximum tensile stress appears.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering (China University of Mining and Technology), Xuzhou, 221008, China

    Xiao-dong Zhao  (赵晓东), Guo-qing Zhou  (周国庆) & Guo-zhou Chen  (陈国舟)

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  1. Xiao-dong Zhao  (赵晓东)
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  2. Guo-qing Zhou  (周国庆)
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  3. Guo-zhou Chen  (陈国舟)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao-dong Zhao  (赵晓东).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(50534040) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(20110491489) supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; Project(2011QNA03) supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China

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Zhao, Xd., Zhou, Gq. & Chen, Gz. Triaxial compression strength for artificial frozen clay with thermal gradient. J. Cent. South Univ. 20, 218–225 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-013-1479-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-013-1479-x

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