Thawing behavior of frozen soil with high ice content under the action of high-power heating rod

ZHU Xu-wei; TIAN Bo; QUAN Lei; LI Li-hui; LI Si-li; ZHANG Pan-pan; HE Zhe

doi:10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.04.004

Volume 25 Issue 4

Aug. 2025

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ZHU Xu-wei, TIAN Bo, QUAN Lei, LI Li-hui, LI Si-li, ZHANG Pan-pan, HE Zhe. Thawing behavior of frozen soil with high ice content under the action of high-power heating rod[J]. Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 2025, 25(4): 58-70. doi: 10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.04.004

Citation:

ZHU Xu-wei, TIAN Bo, QUAN Lei, LI Li-hui, LI Si-li, ZHANG Pan-pan, HE Zhe. Thawing behavior of frozen soil with high ice content under the action of high-power heating rod[J]. Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, 2025, 25(4): 58-70. doi: 10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.04.004

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Thawing behavior of frozen soil with high ice content under the action of high-power heating rod

doi: 10.19818/j.cnki.1671-1637.2025.04.004

Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport, Beijing 100088, China

Funds:

National Key R&D Program of China 2023YFB2604800

More Information

Corresponding author: TIAN Bo (1973-), male, research fellow, PhD, b.tian@rioh.cn
Received Date: 2024-09-29
Accepted Date: 2025-03-12
Rev Recd Date: 2024-12-23
Publish Date: 2025-08-28

Abstract

Abstract

To explore the thawing process and hydrothermal changes of frozen soil with high ice content under high-temperature conditions, four types of frozen soil with a temperature of -1.5 ℃ and ice volume content of 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% were prepared in a sub-zero environmental chamber where dry soil, ice crystals, and water were mixed according to specific proportions. Subsequently, self-designed high-power heating rods were utilized to conduct pre-thawing comparative experiments on these four types of high-ice-content frozen soil, and sensors were employed to monitor real-time temperature and volumetric water content changes during the process. After that, under the action of heating rods, the variation patterns of frozen soil temperature and water content over time as well as the thawing rate of the frozen soil were analyzed. On this basis, field experiments were conducted to verify the efficacy and reliability of high-power heating rods for the pre-thawing of deep high-ice-content frozen soil. Additionally, the cone penetration test (CPT) was employed to determine the thawing range of the soil. Research results show that the thawing process of frozen soil can be divided into three stages under the influence of heating rods: the ice-water phase change thawing stage, the temperature rise stage, and the cooling stage. The thawing of frozen soil is primarily driven by hydrothermal migration jointly induced by temperature and moisture gradients, with the maximum soil temperature gradually decreasing as ice content and radial distance increase. High-temperature effects significantly drive moisture movement in thawed soil within the radial range of 0-5 cm, where the water content of frozen soil at 5 cm radial distance gradually decreases after reaching the designed water content during heating. The thawing rate of frozen soil within the 0-5 cm range is significantly higher than that in other ranges, and it decreases sharply with increasing radial distance and ice content. Determining thawing time and range through moisture fields shows certain hysteresis, underestimating the actual thawing speed and range. It is recommended to assess the freeze-thaw state of frozen soil during thawing experiments by monitoring the temperature response time. The CPT tests can be used to quickly determine the thawing range of frozen soil during field pre-thawing processes.
- subgrade engineering,
- pre-thawing frozen soil,
- cone penetration test,
- temperature,
- unfrozen water content,
- high ice content

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References

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Thawing behavior of frozen soil with high ice content under the action of high-power heating rod

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