Strength Growth Mechanism and Damage Model Verification of Solidified Saline Soil under Freeze-Thaw Cycles

KONG Yuan-yuan, XIE Bai-han, WANG Qing, ZHANG Xue-fei, SUN Dong-yan, WANG Zhi-hui

Journal of Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (11) : 126-132.

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Journal of Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (11) : 126-132. DOI: 10.11988/ckyyb.20240926
Rock-Soil Engineering

Strength Growth Mechanism and Damage Model Verification of Solidified Saline Soil under Freeze-Thaw Cycles

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Abstract

[Objective] This paper aims to investigate the mechanical properties and damage evolution law of lime-solidified saline soil under freeze-thaw cycles, with a focus on analyzing the effects of lime content, curing age, and the number of freeze-thaw cycles on its unconfined compressive strength (UCS). In addition, a damage constitutive model based on statistical distribution is established to predict the stress-strain response and performance degradation of solidified saline soil under freeze-thaw conditions. [Methods] Saline soil from Zhenlai County in western Jilin Province was selected as the research object. Lime was added at proportions of 3%, 6%, and 9% as the curing agent, and specimens were prepared under the optimum moisture content (20%) and a degree of compaction of 90%. The specimens were cured for 7 days and 28 days and subjected to 0-60 freeze-thaw cycles. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were conducted to examine the macroscopic mechanical properties and microstructural changes. Based on the Weibull distribution function, a damage evolution model was established using the experimental data. [Results] The optimum lime content was 6%, and the unconfined compressive strength reached 835.01 kPa after 28 days of curing, which was more than four times that of the untreated soil. Both untreated and solidified saline soils exhibited strain-softening behavior and brittle failure after freeze-thaw cycles. With the increase in freeze-thaw cycles, the strength of the solidified soil gradually decreased but still remained significantly higher than that of the untreated soil. SEM images showed that lime treatment effectively reduced crack development and improved the integrity of the microstructure. The established Weibull damage model accurately simulated the entire stress-strain process under different numbers of freeze-thaw cycles, and the fitting accuracy improved with an increasing number of cycles. [Conclusion] Lime solidification significantly enhances the strength and freeze-thaw resistance of saline soil, with the optimum effect achieved at a 6% lime content and 28 days of curing. The damage model based on the Weibull distribution can effectively characterize the mechanical behavior and damage evolution of solidified saline soil during freeze-thaw processes. The research findings provide theoretical and technical support for the solidification treatment of saline soil in cold regions. The innovation lies in correlating microstructural changes with macroscopic mechanical responses and establishing a statistical damage prediction model suitable for freeze-thaw conditions.

Key words

saline soil / lime solidification / freeze-thaw cycle / unconfined compressive strength / damage model

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KONG Yuan-yuan , XIE Bai-han , WANG Qing , et al . Strength Growth Mechanism and Damage Model Verification of Solidified Saline Soil under Freeze-Thaw Cycles[J]. Journal of Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute. 2025, 42(11): 126-132 https://doi.org/10.11988/ckyyb.20240926

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In Northeast China, the annual temperature difference is relatively large, and the subgrade soil presents freeze-thaw cycle with the change of temperature, belonging to seasonal frozen soil, which is easy to cause serious deformation of subgrade in Northeast China during service, the occurrence of subgrade diseases such as frost heave, frost heave and mud heave leads to the change of soil structure, the reduction of subgrade stiffness, and the deterioration of bearing capacity. The stress-strain relationship can effectively represent the law of stress and deformation of soil, and the establishment of a reasonable freeze-thaw damage model has guiding significance for the structural design of seasonally frozen soil subgrade. Consequence, in order to explore the stress strain relationship and damage mechanism of subgrade soil in seasonal frozen area under different water content under different freeze-thaw cycles and confining pressure,choosing a highway section in Fuxin City, Liaoning Province as the test section, using the ring knife method to select the subgrade soil sample of the test section and freeze-thaw cycle and triaxial compression test, the experiment obtained the relation of the stress-strain curves of subgrade soil under different freeze-thaw cycles and confining pressures. According to the damage mechanics and statistics principles, the Weibull distribution is combined with Lemaitre effective stress principle to establish a damage constitutive model of subgrade soil in the seasonal freezing zone. The results show that the optimum moisture content of subgrade soil in seasonally frozen area is the limit moisture content of its stress-strain curve from strain softening to strain hardening. When the moisture content is less than the optimum moisture content, the peak stress of the curve increases with the decrease of the moisture content, and decreases with the increase of the number of freeze-thaw cycles. When the moisture content of the test piece is greater than the optimum moisture content, the curve has no peak stress with the increase of the moisture content, showing obvious strain hardening characteristics. When the number of freeze-thaw cycles is small and the confining pressure is low, the stress-strain curve of the specimen shows a peak stress, and the curve shows a strain softening feature with the increase of confining pressure, the strength of the specimen increases. Strain hardening is easy to occur when there are many freeze-thaw cycles and large confining pressure. Through comparative analysis, the established damage constitutive model is in good agreement with the test stress-strain curve. It can reflect that the stress-strain curve of subgrade soil in the seasonally frozen area shows a change rule of first increasing and then tending to be stable. And the parameters required by the model can be obtained through triaxial tests, which shows that the model can better describe the stress-strain relationship of subgrade soil in seasonal frozen area, and is practical. In addition, it can be seen from the test results that in order to reduce the impact of freezing and thawing cycles on the subgrade strength in the seasonal freezing area in Northeast China, it is very important to do a good job in the waterproof and drainage of the subgrade in advance for the prevention and treatment of subgrade freezing and thawing diseases.

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