2026-04-14T07:36:06Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/1294042025-07-17T01:09:19Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

Ice formation in unsaturated frozen soils Mao, Yanxin Romero Morales, Enrique Edgar Gens Solé, Antonio Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. MSR - Mecànica del Sòls i de les Roques Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geotècnia::Mecànica de sòls Frozen ground frozen soil clayey silt water saturation porosity Clausius-Clapeyron equation Sòls -- Assaigs This paper presents a procedure for determining unfrozen water saturation in a partially saturated frozen soil (clayey silt) using bulk electrical conductivity (EC) measurements. A modification of Archie’s law is proposed to describe the relationship between soil bulk EC, temperature, porosity and degree of unfrozen water saturation. Compacted samples have been prepared at a dry density around 1.90 Mg/m3 and at dif-ferent degrees of saturation. Samples have been then subjected to freezing paths up to -15 °C. Measurements of bulk EC along the temperature decrease and freezing paths have been used to calibrate parameters associ-ated with the proposed model. These calibrated models allow determining the amount of ice content for a given state of the partially saturated soil (porosity, initial degree of water saturation and temperature). The soil freezing retention curve has been also estimated by combining the Clausius-Clapeyron equation with water retention data on drying. A good agreement has been observed between the estimation based on EC measurements and results from water retention data, which validates the proposed procedure. Postprint (published version) 2018 Conference report Mao, Y.; Romero, E.; Gens, A. Ice formation in unsaturated frozen soils. A: International Conference on Unsaturated Soils. "Unsaturated Soils: UNSAT 2018: The 7th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils". Hong Kong: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), 2018, p. 597-602. 978-988-14032-2-3 https://hdl.handle.net/2117/129404 eng http://gcf-conf.ust.hk/unsat2018/paper/pdf/1e-6.UNSAT2018_366.pdf Open Access 6 p. application/pdf The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)