Abstract
In this study, the author suggests a new method for evaluating the frost-susceptibility of soils, based on the thermal condition of soil-free ice lens formation. Through a series of laboratory freezing tests, the condition is determined by the relationship of a temperature gradient across the unfrozen part of a soil specimen with a temperature gradient across the frozen part of a specimen. In the tests, the results indicated that the temperature gradients were in proportion to each other. The constant of the proportionality to characterize the frost-susceptibility of a given soil, is expressed as a function of the water intake efficiency at the freezing front and the hydraulic conductivity in the unfrozen part of a specimen. Using the value of the constant, the frost-susceptibilities of three different soils were quantitatively compared.
