• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.403-412
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• 1994

The durability of concrete is related to the permeation characteristics of its near surface. An attempt was made to use the permeation characteristics namely, absorptivity, permeability and diffusivity, to predict the freeze/thaw resistance of concrete. Test results indicate that in general, there was a trend that freeze/thaw resistance of concrete was enhanced with improved absorptivity and diffusivity whilst the freeze/thaw resistance of normal concrete was found to have the best relationship with its intrinsic permeability. The latter method is therefore proposed to be adopted to predict freeze/thaw resistance of normal concrete. Since Figg air test is an inexpensive and simple test method that measures indirectly the intrinsic permeability of concrete, it is further proposed that it could be used as a quality control tool to assess, non-destructively, the freeze/thaw durability potential of in-situ concrete.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.5
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• pp.663-671
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• 2023

Freeze-thaw cycles induce strength loss at the frozen soil-concrete interface and deterioration of bonding, which causes construction engineering problems. To clarify the deterioration characteristics of the interface under the freeze-thaw cycle, a frozen soil-concrete sample was used as the research object, an interface scanning electron microscope test under the freeze-thaw cycle was carried out to identify the micro index information, and an interface shear test was carried out to explore the loss law of interface shear strength under the freeze-thaw cycle. The results showed that the integrity of the interface was destroyed, and the pore number and pore size of the interface increased significantly with the number of freeze-thaw cycles. The connection form gradually deteriorates from surface-to-surface contact to point-to-surface contact and point-to-point contact, and the interfacial shear strength decreases the most at 0-3 freeze-thaw cycles, with small decreases from to 3-8 cycles. After 12 freeze-thaw cycles, the interfacial shear strength tends to be stable, and shear the failure occurs internally in the soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.249-260
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• 2024

In order to study the mechanical propertied and change rules of undrained shear behavior of saline soil under the freeze-thaw cycles, an improved constitutive model reflecting the effects of freeze-thaw cycles was proposed based on the traditional Duncan-Chang model. The saline soil in Qian'an County, western Jilin Province, was selected as the experimental object. Then, a set of freeze-thaw cycles (0, 1, 10, 30, 60, 90, 120) tests were conducted on the saline soil specimens, and conventional consolidated undrained triaxial shear tests were conducted on the saline soil specimens that underwent freeze-thaw cycles. The stress-strain relationship was obtained by the triaxial shear test. The model parameters have a corresponding regression relationship with the number of freeze-thaw cycles. Finally, based on the function expression of the model parameters, the modified Duncan-Chang model with the number of freeze-thaw cycles as the influence factor was established, whilst the calculation program of the modified model is compiled. Based on the test results, the stress-strain relationship of the saline soil specimen shows strain hardening. The shear strength gradually decreases with the increase of freeze-thaw cycle. The 10 freeze-thaw cycles are the turning point in the trend of changes of the mechanical properties of saline soils. The calculated and experimental stress-strain relationship are compared, and the comparison between the calculated value of the model and the experimental value showed that the two had a good consistency, which verified the validity of the modified Duncan-Chang model in reflecting the effects of the freeze-thaw cycle.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.209-217
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• 2018

The dynamic compressive behavior of concrete after freezing and thawing tests are investigated by using the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique. The stress-strain curves of concrete under dynamic loading are measured and analyzed. The setting numbers of freeze-thaw cycles are 0, 25, 50, and 75 cycles. Test results show that the dynamic strength decreases and peak strain increases with the increasing of freeze-thaw cycles. Based on the Weibull distribution model, statistical damage constitutive model for dynamic stress-strain response of concrete after freeze-thaw cycles was proposed. At last, the fragmentation test of concrete subjected to dynamic loading and freeze-thaw cycles is carried out using sieving statistics. The distributions of the fragment sizes are analyzed based on fractal theory. The fractal dimensions of concrete increase with the increasing of both freeze-thaw cycle and strain rate. The relations among the fractal dimension, strain rates and freeze-thawing cycles are developed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2018

Strength of loess that experienced cyclic freeze and thaw is of great significance for evaluating stability of slopes and foundations in loess regions. This paper takes the frequently encountered loess in the Northwestern China as the study object and carried out three kinds of laboratory tests including freeze-thaw test, direct shear test and SEM test to investigate the strength behaviors of loess after cyclic freeze and thaw, and the correlation with meso-level changes in soil structure. Results show that for loess specimens at four dry densities, the cohesion decreases with freeze-thaw cycles until a residual value is reached and thus an exponential equation is proposed. Besides, little change in the angle of internal friction was observed as freeze-thaw proceeds. This may depend on the varying of soil structure, based on which a clue can be found from the surface morphology and mesoscopic scanning of loess specimens. Clearly we observed significant changes in surface morphology of loess and it tends to aggravate at higher water contents or more cycles of freeze and thaw. Moreover, freeze-thaw cycling leads to obvious changes in the meso-structure of loess including lowering the particle aggregates and increasing both the proportion of fine particles and porosity area ratio. A damage variable dependent on the ratio of porosity area is introduced based on the continuum damage mechanics and its correlation with cohesion is discussed.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.123-130
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• 2016

OBJECTIVES : The objective of this research is to determine the moisture resistance of the freeze-thaw process occurring in low-noise porous pavement using either hydrated-lime or anti-freezing agent. Various additives were applied to low-noise porous asphalt, which is actively paved in South Korea, to overcome its disadvantages. Moreover, the optimum contents of hydrated-lime and anti-freezing agent and behavior properties of low-noise porous asphalt layer are determined using dynamic moduli via the freeze-thaw test. METHODS : The low-noise porous asphalt mixtures were made using gyratory compacters to investigate its properties with either hydrated-lime or anti-freezing agent. To determine the dynamic moduli of each mixture, impact resonance test was conducted. The applied standard for the freeze-thaw test of asphalt mixture is ASTM D 6857. The freeze-thaw and impact resonance tests were performed twice at each stage. The behavior properties were defined using finite element method, which was performed using the dynamic modulus data obtained from the freeze-thaw test and resonance frequencies obtained from non-destructive impact test. RESULTS : The results show that the coherence and strength of the low-noise porous asphalt mixture decreased continuously with the increase in the temperature of the mixture. The dynamic modulus of the normal low-noise porous asphalt mixture dramatically decreased after one cycle of freezing and thawing stages, which is more than that of other mixtures containing additives. The damage rate was higher when the freeze-thaw test was repeated. CONCLUSIONS : From the root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean percentage error (MPE) analyses, the addition rates of 1.5% hydrated-lime and 0.5% anti-freezing agent resulted in the strongest mixture having the highest moisture resistance compared to other specimens with each additive in 1 cycle freeze-thaw test. Moreover, the freeze-thaw resistance significantly improved when a hydrated-lime content of 0.5% was applied for the two cycles of the freeze-thaw test. Hence, the optimum contents of both hydrated-lime and anti-freezing agent are 0.5%.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.361-375
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• 2015

Constructions over soft and loose soils are one of the most frequent problems in many parts of the world. Cement and cement-lime mixture have been widely used for decades to improve the strength of these soils with the deep soil mixing method. In this study, to investigate the freeze-thaw effect of sand improved by polymers (i.e., styrene-acrylic-copolymer-SACP, polyvinyl acetate-PVAc and xanthan gum) and fly ash, unconfined compression tests were performed on specimens which were exposed to freeze-thaw cycles and on specimens which were not exposed to freeze-thaw cycles. The laboratory test results concluded that the unconfined compressive strength increased with the increase of polymer ratio and curing time, whereas, the changes on unconfined compressive strength with increase of freeze-thaw cycles were insignificant. The overall evaluation of results has revealed that polymers containing fly ash is a good promise and potential as a candidate for deep soil mixing application.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.60-74
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• 1980

Soil-cement mixtures involve problems in it's durability in grain size distribution and mineral composition of the used soils as well as in cement content, compaction energy, molding water content, and curing. As an attempt to solve the problems associated with durability of weathered granite soil with cement treated was investigated by conducting tests such as unconfined compression test, it's moisture, immers, wet-dry and freeze-thaw curing, mesurement of loss of weight with wet-dry and freeze-thaw by KS F criteria and CBR test with moisture curing on the five soil samples different in weathering and mineral composition. The experimental results are summarized as follows; The unconfined compressive strength was higher in moisture curing rather than in the immers and wet-dry, while it was lowest in freeze-thaw. Decreasing ratio of unconfined compressive strength in soil-cement mixtures were lowest in optimum moisture content or in the dry side rather than optimum moisture content with freeze-thaw. The highly significant ceofficient was obtained between the cement content and loss of weight with freeze-thaw and wet-dry. It was possible to obtain the durability of soil-cement mixtures, as the materials of base for roads, containing above 4 % of cement content, above 3Okg/cm$_2$ of unconfined compressive trength with seven days moisture curing or 12 cycle of freeze-thaw after it, above 100% of relative unconfined compressive strength, 80% of index of resistance, below 14% of loss of weight with 12 cycle of wet-dry and above 1. 80g/cm$_2$ of dry density.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.37-45
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• 2000

This paper presents the experimental test results on moisture and freeze-thaw resistance of hot mix crumb rubber modified (CRM) asphalt concrete mixture. To compare the differences in mechanical properties of conventional and CRM asphalt concretes, various tests were conducted under different moisture conditions and freeze-thaw cycles. Marshall mix design was also performed to determine the optimum asphalt contents for the both asphalt concrete mixtures. Test results revealed that the moisture and freeze-thaw resistance of CRM asphalt mixture was superior to the conventional asphalt concrete. As a result, it is considered that the utilization of waste tires in asphalt pavements has the potential of minimizing the damage due to the moisture and freeze-thaw.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.225-245
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• 2016

Settlement of foundations in permafrost regions primarily results from three physical and mechanical processes such as thaw consolidation of permafrost layer, creep of warm frozen soils and the additional deformation of seasonal active layer induced by freeze-thaw cycling. This paper firstly establishes theoretical models for the three sources of settlement including a statistical damage model for soils which experience cyclic freeze-thaw, a large strain thaw consolidation theory incorporating a modified Richards' equation and a Drucker-Prager yield criterion, as well as a simple rheological element based creep model for frozen soils. A novel numerical method was proposed for live computation of thaw consolidation, creep and freeze-thaw cycling in corresponding domains which vary with heat budget in frozen ground. It was then numerically implemented in the FISH language on the FLAC platform and verified by freeze-thaw tests on sandy clay. Results indicate that the calculated results agree well with the measured data. Finally a model test carried out on a half embankment in laboratory was modeled.