Abstract:
Understanding effect of freezing phenomenon in a fiber-reinforced soil structure is essential to foundation technology, road
construction and earthwork application in cold region. This research aims to present the results of experimental investigation relative
to the unconsolidated-undrained triaxial compression behavior of fine-grained soil as a function of freeze-thaw cycles and fiber
volume fractions. All measurements were carried out for 3 selected glass and basalt fiber fractions (0%, 0.5%, and 1%) and 5 selected
freeze-thaw cycles (0, 2, 5, 10, and 15). It has been observed that for the studied soil, strength of unreinforced soil reduced with
increasing number of the freeze-thaw cycles while fiber-reinforced soil shows greater effect and the strength reduction amount
reduces from 40% to 18%. Moreover, the reduction trend for cohesion of the fiber-reinforced soil decreased, this was seen more
prevalent on 1% glass fiber-reinforced soil. The resilient modulus of all specimens reduced with increasing number of the freezethaw
cycles. The experimental results demonstrated that different fiber fractions and their mixtures could be employed as supplement
additive to improve the freeze-thaw performance of cohesive soils for road construction and earthworks.
