• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2017

The mechanical characteristics of frozen sand greatly depend on the frozen temperature and the fine contents according to the previous study by Chae et al. (2015). There are two hypotheses to explain this experimental results; one is the unfrozen water contents greatly affected by the fine contents and frozen temperature and the other is the sand particle spacing greatly affected by the pore-ice. To evaluate the latter hypothesis, the micro X-ray CT scan was performed. The micro X-ray CT scanning, one of the actively performed interdisciplinary research area, has a high resolution with micrometer unit allows to investigate internal structure of soils. In this study, X-ray CT technique was applied to investigate the effect of the frozen temperature and fine contents on the sand particle minimum and average spacing with the developed image processing techniques. Based on the spacing analysis, the frozen temperature and fine contents have little influence on the sand particle spacing in the frozen sand specimens.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1D
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• pp.55-61
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• 2009

In this research freezing depth analyses were performed for the recent 9 project field sites using FrostAM which is a freezing analysis model developed recently within the country and a model based on regional environmental factors and physical properties of pavement materials. The environmental factors needed for freezing depth analysis were obtained from the meteorological agency website. And there were laboratory tests and analyses using a measuring device for properties of unsaturated soil for the field site samples across country to obtain hydrographical properties among physical properties. The freezing depths analyzed by FrostAM were deeper in the range of 14cm~44cm than those based on freezing index. It is considered that the freezing depths based on freezing index were overestimated. And there are considerable differences among the freezing depths based on freezing index which were designed by different designers.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.37-47
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• 2017

The geotechnical characteristics of frozen ground is one of the key design issues for the construction of infrastructure in cold region. In this study, the dynamic properties (shear modulus and damping ratio) of frozen and unfrozen soils sampled from Terra Nova Bay located in eastern Antarctica, where Jang Bogo station was built, were investigated using Stokoe-type resonant column test (RC). In order to freeze the reconstituted soil specimen, the RC testing equipment was modified by adding a cooling system. A series of resonant column tests were performed in frozen and unfrozen soils with various soil densities and temperatures. The shear modulus (G) and damping ratio (D) of soil frozen at $-7^{\circ}C$ were compared with those of unfrozen soil. In addition, the effect of temperature rise on the maximum shear modulus ($G_{max}$) and damping ratio was experimentally investigated. This study has significance in that the difference of dynamic soil properties between frozen and unfrozen soils and the effect of temperature rise on frozen soil were identified.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.51-60
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• 2012

In order to characterize the shear strength of the frozen sand for foundation design in cold region and prediction of adfreeze bond strength, many researchers developed test techniques and carried out many tests to analyze shear strength properties of the frozen sand for half a century. However, many studies for shear strength properties of the frozen sand have been carried out with limited circumstances, even though shear strength of the froze sand can be affected by various influence factors such as soil type, temperature conditions, and magnitude of normal stress. In this study, direct shear test equipment was used to analyze the shear strength characteristics of the frozen sand. Direct shear test equipment was designed for cold weather, and the direct shear tests were carried out inside of large-scaled low temperature chamber. Three soil types-two uniform sands and one well graded soil were used to analyze the shear strength of the frozen sand with three different temperature conditions and three different vertical confining pressures. In this research, a series of direct shear tests for shear strength of the frozen sand have been conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of effectiveness of the test equipment and low temperature chamber. This research also showed that shear strength of the froze sand increased with decreasing temperature condition, but the influence of vertical confining pressure was insignificant to the shear strength of the frozen sand.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.79-90
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• 1990

The National Construction Research Institute of Korea has measured the depth of the frozen ground covering all the areas of South Korea during ten years ranging through 1980. The measurements were made for the frozen ground at random but intended for the most frost-susceptible soils. The soils of the frozen ground were sampled and then classifide into four groups according to the frost design soil classification system suggested by the Corps of Engineers of the United States. The contours of the maximum depth of the frost penetration are drawn on a map with data collected during the ten years. Also isolines of the design frezing index are shown on an another map using the metorological information of 1980-1989 and compared whth those in vestigated in 1980 by Highway Survey Team of the Ministry of Construction, Korea. It is known that the maximum depth of the frost penetration is related to freezing index values. An empirical formula expressing the relation is suggsted, in which the depth is proportional to the one-third power of the air freezing index values.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.31-38
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• 2015

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 $-15^{\circ}C$. 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.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.5-14
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• 2017

Experimental study on strength characteristics of frozen soils is necessary for the safety evaluation of design and construction in cold region. The objective of this study is to evaluate the direct shear strength of frozen soils obtained from traditional system (Type-1), system with roller on the upper shear box (Type-2), and system with fixed upper shear box separated from bottom shear box (Type-3). Specimens mixed with sand, silt, and water are frozen to $-5^{\circ}C$, and then direct shear tests are conducted under the normal stress of 5, 10, 25, and 50 kPa. Experimental results show that the upper shear box of Type-1 touches the bottom shear box due to the rotation of the upper shear box. The shear strength obtained from Type-2 is overestimated because the preventing rotation force is added to shear force. Type-3 may acquire the only strength of the specimen, and shear strain at peak shear strength is similar to that at the beginning of vertical displacement occurrence. In addition, internal friction angle and cohesion at both peak and residual stresses in Type-3 are smaller than those of Type-2. This study shows that high strength specimens including frozen soils can be effectively evaluated using improved shear box system such as Type-3.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2018

This study adopts high resolution 3D X-ray CT imaging technique to visualize and evaluate the internal structure of experimentally frozen soils. Temperature and elastic wave velocity are also measured during the freezing process. The X-ray images of frozen specimens reveal that no changes in internal structure are observed for sand specimen, whereas systematic growth pattern of pore ice is observed within clay specimen. The freezing patterns are then quantified by a set of X-ray images with the aid of two-point correlation method by computing characteristic length Lr. The results reveal that characteristic length for pore ice freezing pattern in clay linearly increases with respect to the distance from the cooling source, so that Lr at the bottom layer is 2.5 times greater than the top layer when freezing process is completed. Furthermore, during the freezing process, local temperature differences are not observed in sand, but observed in clay specimen due to its relatively low thermal conductivity.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.23-30
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• 2013

Bearing capacity of pile is governed by only skin friction in frozen ground condition, while it is generally governed both by skin friction and end bearing capacity in typically unfrozen ground condition. Skin friction force, which arises from the interaction between pile and frozen soils, is defined as adfreeze bond strength, and adfreeze bond strength is one of the most important key parameters for design of pile in frozen soils. Many studies have been carried out in order to analyze adfreeze bond strength characteristics over the last fifty years. However, many studies for adfreeze bond strength have been conducted with limited circumstances, since adfreeze bond strength is sensitively affected by various influence factors such as intrinsic material properties, pile surface roughness, and externally imposed testing conditions. In this study, direct shear test is carried out inside of large-scaled freezing chamber in order to analyze the adfreeze bond strength characteristics with varying freezing temperature and normal stress. Also, the relationship between adfreeze bond strength and shear strength of the frozen soil obtained from previous study was analyzed. The coefficient of adfreeze bond strength was evaluated in order to predict adfreeze bond strength based on shear strength, and coefficients suggested from this and previous studies were compared.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1063-1075
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• 2013

The strength of frozen soils is one of the significant design parameters for the construction in frozen ground. The properties of frozen soils should be investigated to understand the strength of frozen soils. The objective of this study is to figure out the characteristics of elastic waves in frozen soils, which reflect the constituent and physical structure of frozen soils in order to provide fundamental information of those according to the degree of saturation. Freezing cell is manufactured to freeze specimens, which are prepared with the degree of saturation of 10%, 40%, and 100%. Piezo disk elements are used as the compressional wave transducers and Bender elements are used as the shear wave transducers. While the temperature of specimens changes from $20^{\circ}C$ to $-10^{\circ}C$, the velocities, resonant frequencies and amplitudes of the compressional and shear waves are investigated based on the elastic wave signatures. Experimental results reveal that the elastic wave velocities increase as the degree of saturation increases. The variation of resonant frequencies coincide with that of elastic wave velocities. A marked discrepancy in amplitudes of compressional and shear waves are observed at the temperature of $0^{\circ}C$. This study renders the basic information of elastic waves in frozen soils according the degree of saturation.