ABSTRACT
Fine-grained soils cause permanent volume reduction when subjected to freeze-thaw cycles, even when obvious ice-lensing and other meso-/macroscopically inhomogeneous structures do not appear. The volume reduction amount is dependent on the stress level. The envelope of the eventual states reached after many freeze-thaw cycles is defined as Freeze-Thaw Residual Line (FTRL), and its characteristics are investigated for fine-grained soils with different plasticity. Possible correlations between FTRL parameters and plasticity index are indicated. Comparison between natural and reconstituted samples is also made, which revealed that natural soil structure was not easily lost after multiple freeze-thaw cycles.
