The influence of thawing and consolidation conditions on the deformation properties of thawing soils

The results of laboratory studies of the effects of thawing conditions (plane-parallel or three dimensional) on the deformation characteristics (thawing and compression coefficients) of thawing soils (sand, sandy loam, and clay loam) with preset physical properties of massive and layered cryogenic textures are presented. It was found that the values of the thawing coefficient are greater for three-dimensional thawing, whereas those of the compression coefficient are larger for plane-parallel thawing. These data made it possible to establish that the deformation characteristics of thawing soils can be determined experimentally irrespective of thawing conditions.