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Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 41, pp. 160-163, 1961-12-01
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Alternate freezing and thawing not a requirement for frost heaving in
soils
Penner, E.
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S er
TH1
N2lr 2 no. 143 c. 2
NATIONAL
RESEARCH
COUNCIL
CANADADIVISION O F BUILDING RESEARCH
ALTERNATE FREEZING AND THAWING NOT A REQUIREMENT
FOR FROST HEAVING IN SOILS
BY
E. PENNER
REPRINTED FROM
CANADIAN J O U R N A L O F S O I L SCIENCE. VOL. 41. AUGUST 1961, P. 160 - 163.
RESEARCH PAPER N O . 143
OF THE
DIVISION O F BUILDING RESEARCH
OTTAWA DECEMBER 1961
T h i s publication i s being d i s t r i b u t e d by the D i v i s i o n of Building R e s e a r c h of t h e National R e s e a r c h Council. I t should not b e r e p r o d u c e d i n whole o r i n p a r t , without p e r m i s - s i o n of the o r i g i n a l p u b l i s h e r . T h e Division would be glad t o be of a s s i s t a n c e i n obtaining s u c h p e r m i s s i o n .
P u b l i c a t i o n s of the Division of Building R e s e a r c h m a y be obtained by m a i l i n g the a p p r o p r i a t e r e m i t t a n c e , ( a B a n k , E x p r e s s , o r P o s t Office Maney O r d e r o r a cheque m a d e p a y - able a t p a r in Ottawa, to the R e c e i v e r G e n e r a l of C a n a d a , c r e d i t National R e s e a r c h Cour-4'' to t h e National R e s e a r c h
Council, Ottax-
-
- S a~ :ceptable.A c o m e n t s for puL a b l e i n d e n o m i tained by m a k . coupons m a y h Council p., Governme i n t r o d u c e d to m a k e p a y - n p l e . Caupons a r e a v a i l - 50 c e n t s , and m a y be o b - i n d i c a t e d above. T h e s e of a l l National R e s e a r c h i c a t i o n s of the C a n a d i a n
ANALYZED
ALTERNATE FREEZING AND THAWING NOT A REQUIREMENT FOR FROST HEAVING IN SOILS
E. PENNER
Nntionnl Resenrch Council, Ottnwn, O~ztnrio
Repriuted jro7rr Canndina ]or~rnnl of Soil Scieace 41: 160-163, A~rgzut, I961
ALTERNATE FREEZING AND THAWING NOT A REQUIREMENT FOR FROST HEAVING IN SOILS
E. PENNER'
Nntio7zol Resenrcb C07rtzci1, Ottnwo, 07ztnrio
[ R c c ~ i v c d for publication December 19, 19601
ABSTRACT
Field measorements of frost heaving beneath a cold storage plant ant1 laboratory soil freezing cxperinlents in "open" ant1 "closctl" systems support the view that both a freezing 2nd tha\ving cycle arc ?lot required for frost heaving as has been suggested in a recent paper ( 2 ) .
INTRODUCTION
I11 a recent paper ( I ) , giving results froin heaving experiments in the field, it nras intimated that freezing and thawing are "required" f o r frost heaving, \\.hereas in the summary the suggestion was made that freezing and thawing "favour" frost heaving in field plots. - -
These statements appear to be contradictory and are not consistent with well-established facts in the literature about the frost action process ( 3 ) . T h e writer is not so much concerned wit11 the contradiction, however, as with the statenlent about the "requirement" for frost heaving. T h e purpose of this paper is to present evidence to show that the frost heaving process is not contingent on the presence of a thawing cycle either in laboratory experiments or in the field.
THEORY O F FROST HEAVING
Frost heaving in soils is the result of ice lensing. A n ice lens obtains water for g r o ~ v t h b y drying the soil in its vicinity, thereby creating a suction gradient in the water of the unfrozen soil. A t the sallle time, sufficient additional energy is made available in the water-ice phase changc to lift the frozen soil. Frost heaving will only occur, however, if sufficient water is available, the soil temperature is below O°C., and the soil is frost susceptible, i.e., a soil n711ich supports ice lens growth.
Another condition must also be met. During the water-ice phase change the latent heat of crystallization must be reilloved in order to sustain heaving. This provides a convenient means of following the progress of ice formation. In the particular case of a stationarv freezing front the anlount of heave inay be computed from the nct heai extraction.
T o a large extent, the rate of hcat reinoval determines the rate of heaving. This has been shown to hold f o r soils of widely different charac- teristics in laboratory
experiments
(4); when heat removal beconles ex- cessive, hon~ever, the permeability of soil inay limit the rate of frost heaving.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Lat3o~ato1.y Expe~i7)rents
T h e results of a laboratory frcezing expcrimcnt wit11 Leda clay at two rates of heat extraction are shon7n in Figure 1. I11 particular i t should be noted that the heat flow was in one direction in both stages 1 and 2 of the experiment, i.e., there was no thawing cycle. T h e rate of heaving
SOILS : L E D A CLAY
WATER T A B L E : 1 ' BELOW S O I L SPECIMEN HEAT OUT M I N U S : P
I
H E A T I NTIME, H I
FIGURE 1. Cumulative values of net heat flow and moisturc flolv vs. tiinc.
I ~ I G U I ~ E 2 . N c t difference bctmecn hcat o u t and hcat in as a function of timc ill a
closcd systcm as lncasurcd by heat Inetcrs.
6 0
during stage 1 \!.as atlout 1.5 inches per d a y ; during stage 2 it was 2 inches per day. Calibrated heat flow meters, 6 inches in diameter, were placcd at cach cnd of the 3-inch-high soil specinlen t o measure the heat flow. W a t e r was supplied from an a u t o n ~ a t i c balance arrangement at a suction equivalent t o 1 foot of water. Both hcat and 11-ater flow were continuouslv recordcd on a millivolt recorder.
T h e results (Figure 1) show that a steady rate of heat flow in an "open svstem" can produce very substantial frost heaving. T h i s is also true if the s i s t e m is allowed to desaturate, "closed system". T h e heat removed during freezing call be accounted f o r in terms of the latent heat of fusion of the u.atcr frozen and the cooling of thc sample. - Figurc 2 gives nct heat flow
2 5 0
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
SOIL : LINDSAY SAND As 5 2 . 3 2 B T U
- 1 4 . 0 0 0 DRY BULK DENSITY: 2.21 G R / C M '
-
A ' CALCULATED HEAT
m LOSS FROM TEMP.
i 4 0 - G R A D I E N T S C C I I I I I I 0 8 16 2 4 32 4 0 4 8 5 6 6 4 7 2 8 0 8 8 9 6 1 0 4 112 120 TIME. HI - - - - - I T -IO.OOO Y) Y 8 . 0 0 0 E S 6 . 0 0 0 4 . 0 0 0 2 . 0 0 0
162 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE [Val. 41
I
I
S O I L : L I N D S A Y S A N D WATER C O N T E N T - 8.4 '10, DRY B U L K D E N S I T Y 2.21 G R / C M ~ - A T E N D OF A T BEGINNING OF E X P E R I M E N T-
- - - FROZEN LAYER WHEN NO FURTHER HEAVING OCCURRED - UNFROZEN L A Y E R WATER C O N T E N T - 3 . 9 O/o - - 2 - I 0 +I+
2 O CFIGURE 3. Temperature distribution at equilibriunl in closed system.
measured b y heat flow meters as a function of time f o r a closed systcrn. Figure 3 shows the temperature gradient before heaving began and after heaving ceased. T h e sample was saturated before freezing commenced and
110 further water was supplied during the freezing period. Again, a smooth
and continuous heat flow in one direction during the experiment m a y bc noted.
I n the unfrozen portion, the water content had been reduced from the saturated state of 8.4 per cent t o 3.9 per cent. F r o m the k n o w n un- frozen water-temperature relationship f o r the soil, t h e amount of ice in the frozen portion could be estimated. T h e difference between heat in and heat out measured b y the heat meters was 49.8 B.t.u. Freezing of thc water took 47.6 B.t.u. and cooling t h e soil, water and ice took 4.8 B.t.u. T h i s leaves only 5 per cent of the heat extracted unaccounted for, a good balance when the difficulties in doing the many experiments to permit such a computation are considered.
t'illgllht, 19611 I'ENSEH-PHOSL' IlEAVlNG 163
Field il~lennzre.~~zents
1,cvel surveys carried o u t on the floor of a cold storage plant a t Corn- wall, ~ v h i c h was subjected to extensive frost heaving damage aftcr 8
years
of continuous operation, s h o ~ v e d frost heaving u7as still in progress ( 1 ) .F o r the period February t o June, the frost line penetrated from 8 t o 9 feet, resulting in some 2
K
inches of heaving in t h e centre of t h e building. T h i s situation represents frost heaving in the field but compares, in its steady unidirectional heat removal, to the laboratory experiments described.CONCLUSION
I t is believed that sufficient experimental evidence has been provided to conclude that alternating freezing and thawing is not a "requircment" f o r frost heaving.
REFERENCES
1. Hamilton, J. J., D. C. Pearce, and N. B. Hutcheon. W h a t frost action did t o a cold storage plant. J. h m e r . Soc. Heating Refrig. A i r Conditioning Enginecrs
1:4:54-58. 1959.
2. Holmes, R . Ad., and G. W. Robertson. Soil heaving in alfalfa plots in rclation t o
soil and air temperature. Can. J. Soil Sci. 40:2:212-218. 1960.
3. Penner, E. T h e mechanism of frost heaving in soils. Highway Research Board Bull. 221. , D.
.
1-22. 1959.1. Pcnncr, E. T h c importance of freezing rate in frost action ~ I I soil. Proc. Amer. Soc. Test. Mater. 60: 1151-1165. 1960.
