Permafrost （perennially frozen ground） appears widely in the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet railway and is characterized by high ground temperature （≥1℃） and massive ground ice. Under the scenarios of...Permafrost （perennially frozen ground） appears widely in the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet railway and is characterized by high ground temperature （≥1℃） and massive ground ice. Under the scenarios of global warming and human activity, the permafrost under the railway will gradually thaw and the massive ground ice will slowly melt, resulting in some thaw settlement hazards, which mainly include longitudinal and lateral cracks, and slope failure. The crushed rock layer has a thermal semiconductor effect under the periodic fluctuation of natural air. It can be used to lower the temperature of the underlying permafrost along the Qinghai-Tibet railway, and mitigate the thaw settlement hazards of the subgrade. In the present paper, the daily and annual changes in the thermal characteristics of the embankment with crushed rock side slope （ECRSS） were quantitatively simulated using the numerical method to study the cooling effect of the crushed rock layer and its mitigative ability. The results showed that the ECRSS absorbed some heat in the daytime in summer, but part of it was released at night, which accounted for approximately 20% of that absorbed. Within a year, it removed more heat from the railway subgrade in winter than that absorbed in summer. It can store approximately 20% of the ＂cold＂ energy in subgrade. Therefore, ECRSS is a better measure to mitigate thaw settlement hazards to the railway.展开更多
During the thawing process of a railway subgrade,bidirectional thawing complicates water-heat transfer,leading to serious thaw settlement issues under train loads.Focusing on the severely frozen section of the Shuozho...During the thawing process of a railway subgrade,bidirectional thawing complicates water-heat transfer,leading to serious thaw settlement issues under train loads.Focusing on the severely frozen section of the Shuozhou-Huanghua port heavy-haul railway,this study conducted indoor soil-column laterally-limited compression tests on thawing fine-grained soil specimens to analyze the cumulative deformation during thawing.The deformation evolution was examined from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives.The test results revealed a sig-nificant increase in the water content at the frozen interlayer during thawing,with minimal thaw settlement under no-load conditions.However,under dynamic loads,the thawing soil exhibited rapid settlement during the initial stages of the process.Increasing the dynamic load amplitude did not result in significant additional thaw settlement compression.Particle image velocimetry revealed substantial thaw settlement and compression at the top of thawing soil.Microscopically,the porosity at the top of the specimens significantly decreased,whereas the porosity in the frozen interlayer remained largely unchanged.Under dynamic loading,the specimens exhibited a concentrated distribution of large pores with scattered smaller pores.The phase change from ice to water,combined with dynamic loading,induced particle movement and expanded the inter-particle pore space,leading to macroscopic thaw settlement and soil compression.The findings can provide a theoretical foundation for maintaining and ensuring the safety of railway subgrades in cold regions.展开更多
The formation of thawed interlayer beneath embankment can result in embankment settlement in permafrost regions. Based on the data on ground temperatures and deformations beneath the embankment, observed in-situ along...The formation of thawed interlayer beneath embankment can result in embankment settlement in permafrost regions. Based on the data on ground temperatures and deformations beneath the embankment, observed in-situ along the QinghaiTibet Railway in permafrost regions from 2006 to2013, characteristics of the thawed interlayer beneath the embankment and its influence on the embankment settlement are studied. The results indicate that the thawed interlayer hardly forms beneath the natural field, and beneath the embankments from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway the thawed interlayer develops widely, and it can be refrozen totally in the regions with lower mean annual ground temperature, and developed further in the regions with higher mean annual ground temperature.The thawed interlayer is closely related to the embankment settlement. The ice content of permafrost underlying the thawed interlayer influences the settlement of embankment. The higher the ice content is, the larger the settlement is, and vice versa. The increase in thickness of thawed interlayer mainly results from the decline of artificial permafrost table in high-temperature permafrost regions.展开更多
A series of tests were conducted to analyze temperature field distribution and thawing settlement of a thawing soil under static and dynamic loading at various cooling and thawing temperatures. The results demonstrate...A series of tests were conducted to analyze temperature field distribution and thawing settlement of a thawing soil under static and dynamic loading at various cooling and thawing temperatures. The results demonstrate： （1） the temperature field distribution of the thawing soil was not significantly influenced by the loading form under the tested loading conditions; similar results were obtained for samples at different dynamic loading frequencies and different dynamic loading ampli- tudes, which verified the independence of loading form and temperature field; （2） changed temperature field distributions were found in thawing soil with different cooling and thawing temperatures, and the cooling and thawing temperature of the samples were the main factors affecting their temperature distributions; （3） under the tested conditions, thawing set- tlements were little influenced by the thawing temperature and the dynamic loading frequency; and （4） a linear relation- ship existed between the thawing settlement and the cooling temperature, and a logarithmic function could be used to describe the relationship between the thawing settlement and the loading amplitude.展开更多
Based on ground temperatures and deformations monitored at the Xieshuihe site along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway(QTH)in permafrost regions from 2004 to 2015,variation of artificial permafrost table(APT),maximum frozen de...Based on ground temperatures and deformations monitored at the Xieshuihe site along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway(QTH)in permafrost regions from 2004 to 2015,variation of artificial permafrost table(APT),maximum frozen depth(MFD),thawed interlayer thickness(TIT)and ground temperature beneath embankment is analyzed,respectively.The results indicate that under the embankment,the change of APT occurred from October to December of that year and presented a deepening trend.The change of MFD occurred from April to June of that year with no obvious change trend,and TIT had an increasing trend year by year,which mainly resulted from the deepening artificial permafrost table.Mean annual ground temperature at 0.5 m depth was 3.91°C higher beneath the embankment center than that under the natural field.The rising ground temperature at shallow layer of embankment resulted in the development of thawed interlayer beneath the embankment and warming of underlying permafrost.Embankment settlement is closely associated with TIT.Greater settlement easily occurs when permafrost with higher ice content exists under the thawed interlayer,and in turn the settlement is smaller when permafrost with lower ice content exists under the thawed interlayer.展开更多
Compacted loess is widely used as fills of road embankments in loess regions of northern China.Generally, densely-compacted loess can satisfy the requirements of embankment strength and postconstruction deformation. H...Compacted loess is widely used as fills of road embankments in loess regions of northern China.Generally, densely-compacted loess can satisfy the requirements of embankment strength and postconstruction deformation. However, uneven subsidence, pavement cracks and other related damages can affect the integrity of loess subgrade after several years of operation,and even cause some hazards, especially in North China, where the strong freeze-thaw erosion occurs. In this study, cyclic freeze-thaw tests for both densely and loosely compacted loess samples were performed to determine the variation in engineering properties such as volume, void ratio, collapsible settlement,microstructure, and the related mechanisms were addressed. The experimental results showed that an obvious water migration and redistribution occurred within the samples during freeze-thaw cycles. Ice lenses and fissures could be identified in the upper frozen layers of the samples. After freeze-thaw cycles,the dry densities of the upper layers of samples changed significantly due to strong freeze-thaw erosion. The dry densities decreased for the dense sample and increased for the loose sample. It can be found that dense samples become loose, while loose samples became dense with the increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles. Their related void ratios changed reversely. Both void ratios tended to fall into a certain range, which verified the concept of a residual void ratio proposed by Viklander. The loosening process of densely compacted samples involves the formation of large pores, volume increase and density reduction as well as the related changes in mechanical properties because freeze-thaw cycles may be important contribution to problems of loess road embankments.Adverse effects of freeze-thaw cycles, therefore,should be taken into account in selecting loess parameters for the stability evaluation of road embankment in seasonally frozen ground regions.展开更多
In order to investigate the effects of freezing and thawing on the compressibility of fine-grained soils, freezing and thawing tests and subsequent compression tests with fine-grained soils in an oedometer were carrie...In order to investigate the effects of freezing and thawing on the compressibility of fine-grained soils, freezing and thawing tests and subsequent compression tests with fine-grained soils in an oedometer were carried out. During the freezing, a part of the soils is loosened and another part is over-consolidated under the freezing pressure σE. The compression curves after the freezing and thaw consolidation are neither different from the normal consolidation curve nor from the rebound curve of an unfrozen soil, until the consolidation pressure σz = σE is arrived. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical model has been devel- oped to predict the frost heaves, the thaw-settlements and the compressive deformations of fine-grained soils after the thaw consolidation. The theoretical results are very close to the experimental results.展开更多
This paper presents various deformation-monitoring technologies employed to monitor the frost heave and thaw settlement of two mounds along the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor(QTEC), China. The QTEC is known as a ...This paper presents various deformation-monitoring technologies employed to monitor the frost heave and thaw settlement of two mounds along the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor(QTEC), China. The QTEC is known as a critical infrastructure and passage connecting inland China and the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau(QTP). Three technologies—global navigation satellite system(GNSS), terrestrial laser scanning(TLS), and unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)—were used to estimate the freeze/thaw–induced 3D surface deformation of two frost mounds. Our results showed that (1) the two frost mounds exhibited mainly thaw settlement in thawing periods and frost heave in the freezing period, but frost heave dominated after repeated freeze–thaw cycles;(2) different zones of the mounds showed different deformation characteristics;(3) active-layer thickness(ALT) and elevation changes were highly correlated during thaw periods;(4) integrated 3D-measurement technologies can achieve a better understanding and assessment of hazards in the permafrost area.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos 40801022 and 40821001)the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) Knowledge Innovation Key Directional Program(Grant Nos KZCX2-YW-Q03-04 and KZCX2-YW-311)+2 种基金CAS Western Project(Grant No.KZCX2-XB2-10)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.20080430110)CAS 100-Talent Programs"Stability of Linear Engineering Foundations in Warm Permafrost Regions under a Changing Climate"and"Deformation and Stability of Roadbed in Permafrost Regions",CAS West Light Foundation for PhD G.Y.Li,Funds of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering,CAS(Grant Nos SKLFSE-ZQ-02 and SKLFSE-ZY-03)
文摘Permafrost （perennially frozen ground） appears widely in the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet railway and is characterized by high ground temperature （≥1℃） and massive ground ice. Under the scenarios of global warming and human activity, the permafrost under the railway will gradually thaw and the massive ground ice will slowly melt, resulting in some thaw settlement hazards, which mainly include longitudinal and lateral cracks, and slope failure. The crushed rock layer has a thermal semiconductor effect under the periodic fluctuation of natural air. It can be used to lower the temperature of the underlying permafrost along the Qinghai-Tibet railway, and mitigate the thaw settlement hazards of the subgrade. In the present paper, the daily and annual changes in the thermal characteristics of the embankment with crushed rock side slope （ECRSS） were quantitatively simulated using the numerical method to study the cooling effect of the crushed rock layer and its mitigative ability. The results showed that the ECRSS absorbed some heat in the daytime in summer, but part of it was released at night, which accounted for approximately 20% of that absorbed. Within a year, it removed more heat from the railway subgrade in winter than that absorbed in summer. It can store approximately 20% of the ＂cold＂ energy in subgrade. Therefore, ECRSS is a better measure to mitigate thaw settlement hazards to the railway.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(Nos.52078312,52478461,and 52408379)the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province(E2024210134)+2 种基金the Innovative Research Group Project of the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province(Grant No.E2021210099)CCCC Science and Technology R&D Project(Grant No.2021-ZJKJ-01)the S&T Program of Hebei(Grant No.225A0802D).
文摘During the thawing process of a railway subgrade,bidirectional thawing complicates water-heat transfer,leading to serious thaw settlement issues under train loads.Focusing on the severely frozen section of the Shuozhou-Huanghua port heavy-haul railway,this study conducted indoor soil-column laterally-limited compression tests on thawing fine-grained soil specimens to analyze the cumulative deformation during thawing.The deformation evolution was examined from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives.The test results revealed a sig-nificant increase in the water content at the frozen interlayer during thawing,with minimal thaw settlement under no-load conditions.However,under dynamic loads,the thawing soil exhibited rapid settlement during the initial stages of the process.Increasing the dynamic load amplitude did not result in significant additional thaw settlement compression.Particle image velocimetry revealed substantial thaw settlement and compression at the top of thawing soil.Microscopically,the porosity at the top of the specimens significantly decreased,whereas the porosity in the frozen interlayer remained largely unchanged.Under dynamic loading,the specimens exhibited a concentrated distribution of large pores with scattered smaller pores.The phase change from ice to water,combined with dynamic loading,induced particle movement and expanded the inter-particle pore space,leading to macroscopic thaw settlement and soil compression.The findings can provide a theoretical foundation for maintaining and ensuring the safety of railway subgrades in cold regions.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41571064,41630636 and 41471061)the Independent Research of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering(SKLFSE-ZT-09)
文摘The formation of thawed interlayer beneath embankment can result in embankment settlement in permafrost regions. Based on the data on ground temperatures and deformations beneath the embankment, observed in-situ along the QinghaiTibet Railway in permafrost regions from 2006 to2013, characteristics of the thawed interlayer beneath the embankment and its influence on the embankment settlement are studied. The results indicate that the thawed interlayer hardly forms beneath the natural field, and beneath the embankments from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway the thawed interlayer develops widely, and it can be refrozen totally in the regions with lower mean annual ground temperature, and developed further in the regions with higher mean annual ground temperature.The thawed interlayer is closely related to the embankment settlement. The ice content of permafrost underlying the thawed interlayer influences the settlement of embankment. The higher the ice content is, the larger the settlement is, and vice versa. The increase in thickness of thawed interlayer mainly results from the decline of artificial permafrost table in high-temperature permafrost regions.
基金provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant Nos.41001036 and 41171064
文摘A series of tests were conducted to analyze temperature field distribution and thawing settlement of a thawing soil under static and dynamic loading at various cooling and thawing temperatures. The results demonstrate： （1） the temperature field distribution of the thawing soil was not significantly influenced by the loading form under the tested loading conditions; similar results were obtained for samples at different dynamic loading frequencies and different dynamic loading ampli- tudes, which verified the independence of loading form and temperature field; （2） changed temperature field distributions were found in thawing soil with different cooling and thawing temperatures, and the cooling and thawing temperature of the samples were the main factors affecting their temperature distributions; （3） under the tested conditions, thawing set- tlements were little influenced by the thawing temperature and the dynamic loading frequency; and （4） a linear relation- ship existed between the thawing settlement and the cooling temperature, and a logarithmic function could be used to describe the relationship between the thawing settlement and the loading amplitude.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41571064)the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41630636)the Independent Research of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering (No. SKLFSE-ZT-09)
文摘Based on ground temperatures and deformations monitored at the Xieshuihe site along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway(QTH)in permafrost regions from 2004 to 2015,variation of artificial permafrost table(APT),maximum frozen depth(MFD),thawed interlayer thickness(TIT)and ground temperature beneath embankment is analyzed,respectively.The results indicate that under the embankment,the change of APT occurred from October to December of that year and presented a deepening trend.The change of MFD occurred from April to June of that year with no obvious change trend,and TIT had an increasing trend year by year,which mainly resulted from the deepening artificial permafrost table.Mean annual ground temperature at 0.5 m depth was 3.91°C higher beneath the embankment center than that under the natural field.The rising ground temperature at shallow layer of embankment resulted in the development of thawed interlayer beneath the embankment and warming of underlying permafrost.Embankment settlement is closely associated with TIT.Greater settlement easily occurs when permafrost with higher ice content exists under the thawed interlayer,and in turn the settlement is smaller when permafrost with lower ice content exists under the thawed interlayer.
基金supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China(973 Program)(Grant No.2012CB026106)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41672310)+3 种基金the Science and Technology Major Project of Gansu Province(Grant No.143GKDA007)National key research and development program(2016YFC0802103)the West Light Foundation of CAS for Dr.G.Y.Li,Project of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering of CAS(Grant No.SKLFSE-ZY-16)the STS research project of the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute(HHS-TSS-STS-1502)
文摘Compacted loess is widely used as fills of road embankments in loess regions of northern China.Generally, densely-compacted loess can satisfy the requirements of embankment strength and postconstruction deformation. However, uneven subsidence, pavement cracks and other related damages can affect the integrity of loess subgrade after several years of operation,and even cause some hazards, especially in North China, where the strong freeze-thaw erosion occurs. In this study, cyclic freeze-thaw tests for both densely and loosely compacted loess samples were performed to determine the variation in engineering properties such as volume, void ratio, collapsible settlement,microstructure, and the related mechanisms were addressed. The experimental results showed that an obvious water migration and redistribution occurred within the samples during freeze-thaw cycles. Ice lenses and fissures could be identified in the upper frozen layers of the samples. After freeze-thaw cycles,the dry densities of the upper layers of samples changed significantly due to strong freeze-thaw erosion. The dry densities decreased for the dense sample and increased for the loose sample. It can be found that dense samples become loose, while loose samples became dense with the increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles. Their related void ratios changed reversely. Both void ratios tended to fall into a certain range, which verified the concept of a residual void ratio proposed by Viklander. The loosening process of densely compacted samples involves the formation of large pores, volume increase and density reduction as well as the related changes in mechanical properties because freeze-thaw cycles may be important contribution to problems of loess road embankments.Adverse effects of freeze-thaw cycles, therefore,should be taken into account in selecting loess parameters for the stability evaluation of road embankment in seasonally frozen ground regions.
文摘In order to investigate the effects of freezing and thawing on the compressibility of fine-grained soils, freezing and thawing tests and subsequent compression tests with fine-grained soils in an oedometer were carried out. During the freezing, a part of the soils is loosened and another part is over-consolidated under the freezing pressure σE. The compression curves after the freezing and thaw consolidation are neither different from the normal consolidation curve nor from the rebound curve of an unfrozen soil, until the consolidation pressure σz = σE is arrived. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical model has been devel- oped to predict the frost heaves, the thaw-settlements and the compressive deformations of fine-grained soils after the thaw consolidation. The theoretical results are very close to the experimental results.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41301508, 41630636)
文摘This paper presents various deformation-monitoring technologies employed to monitor the frost heave and thaw settlement of two mounds along the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor(QTEC), China. The QTEC is known as a critical infrastructure and passage connecting inland China and the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau(QTP). Three technologies—global navigation satellite system(GNSS), terrestrial laser scanning(TLS), and unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)—were used to estimate the freeze/thaw–induced 3D surface deformation of two frost mounds. Our results showed that (1) the two frost mounds exhibited mainly thaw settlement in thawing periods and frost heave in the freezing period, but frost heave dominated after repeated freeze–thaw cycles;(2) different zones of the mounds showed different deformation characteristics;(3) active-layer thickness(ALT) and elevation changes were highly correlated during thaw periods;(4) integrated 3D-measurement technologies can achieve a better understanding and assessment of hazards in the permafrost area.
