Experimental study on pot-cover effect under unidirectional freezing-thawing cycle

Abstract

An experiment has been carried out to study the soil moisture increasing characteristics caused by Pot-cover Effect under unidirectional freezing-thawing cycle. After 30 freezing-thawing cycles, frost heave and thaw settlement has occurred in the soil sample. The results of temperature and water content monitoring indicate that the moisture of the soil sample increase significantly and the water content of the top soil reaches nearly liquid limit. It is also observed that the freezing front move down gradually with the number of the cycle increases. The test results show that freezing-thawing cycle can accelerate the increase of soil moisture caused by Pot-cover Effect.