Abstract
The impact of periodic freezing-thawing cycling on the stress-relaxation behavior of expansive soil, which was discovered during the construction of the Harbin-Jiamusi high-speed railway, was investigated in this paper. The laboratory tests associated with this study involved X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis, and direct shear testing. Test results indicate that shear stress decreases gradually in line with the number of freeze-thaw (F-T) cycling (NFT). When the NFT exceeds 7, F-T cycling no longer has any observably significant influence on the shear stress. The relaxation rate decreases during the first F-T cycle, after which almost no appreciable effect from F-T cycling is visible. It is concluded that, during the relaxation process, the shear stress decreases gradually and tends towards a stable value. A three stage process for the stress relaxation of soil samples affected by F-T cycling was observed: instantaneous relaxation; attenuated relaxation; and steady relaxation. Based on the experimental results, a disturbed state concept (DSC)-based stress-relaxation model for expansive soil exposed to freeze-thaw cycling was proposed. Close agreement between the experimental data and results predicted according to the model confirms the model’s validity.
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Abbreviations
- A, B, and C :
-
Undetermined parameters
- D :
-
Disturbance function
- d a :
-
Diameter of soil samples (mm)
- E 0 :
-
Elastic modulus of Hooke body (kPa)
- E 1 :
-
Elastic modulus of viscoelastic body (kPa)
- J(t):
-
Creep function
- N FT :
-
The number of freeze-thaw cycling
- R(t):
-
Relaxation function
- s d,p :
-
Pre-displacement (mm)
- \({{\dot s}_{d,p}}\) :
-
Shear displacement rate (mm/min)
- S FA :
-
Viscoelastic behavior of the expansive soil
- \({S_{{N_{FT}}}}\) :
-
Behaviors of expansive soil according to the number of F-T cycling SRI=
- t :
-
Time (min)
- ε :
-
Total strain
- ε e :
-
Strain of Hooke body
- ε ve :
-
Strain of viscoelastic body
- \({{\dot \varepsilon }_{ve}}\) :
-
Strain rate of viscoelastic body
- η 1 :
-
Viscosity coefficient of viscoelastic body
- σ :
-
Total stress (kPa)
- σ ve-e :
-
Stress of Hooke body (kPa)
- σ ve-v :
-
Stress of viscoelastic body (kPa)
- τ s :
-
Shear stress (kPa)
- τ s,0 :
-
Initial shear stress (kPa)
- τ s,s :
-
Steady shear stress (kPa)
- τ s,r :
-
Relaxation shear stress (kPa)
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2016YEE0205100 and 2018YFC1505305), the National Major Scientific Instruments Development Project of China (Grant No. 41627801), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 41772315 and 41702382), the Technology Research and Development Plan Program of Heilongjiang Province (Grant No. GA19A501), the State Key Laboratory for GeoMechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology (SKLGDUEK1807).
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Cong, S., Nie, Z. & Hu, Q. A Disturbed State Concept-Based Stress-Relaxation Model for Expansive Soil Exposed to Freeze-Thaw Cycling. KSCE J Civ Eng 24, 2621–2630 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-020-2000-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-020-2000-3