A laboratory study of freeze-thaw effects on hydraulic conductivity of kaolin-sand mixtures

Freeze-thaw effects on subgrade soils are of relevance to geotechnical and pavement engineering given the potential for increased road construction in colder regions due to climate change. The freezing and thawing cycles can result in changes to some soil parameters, therefore, for design processes, there is a need to characterize such progressive changes. This paper gives an overview of a laboratory experimental campaign on fine-grained soil and clay-sand mixture soil samples under multiple freezing and thawing cycles. The effects of freezing and thawing conditioning processes on the hydraulic and properties of tested soil samples were investigated. The experimental observations were used to develop transformation models for fine-grained soil and soil mixtures tested.