Considering the impact of the subgrade water level and freeze-thaw cycles, experiments were conducted on ballast track subgrade mud pumping. The study analyzed the migration of water and fine particles, as well as the characteristics of mud formation during the mud pumping process of the ballast track subgrade under cyclic loading. The research findings indicate that, during the initial loading stage at ambient temperature, moisture migrates upwards from the bottom. As dynamic loading is continuously applied, the internal pore water pressure in the subgrade soil gradually dissipates, resulting in a decrease in the pore water pressure gradient and a stabilization of the moisture content in each soil layer. When the water level is positioned in the middle of the subgrade, the upper soil is in an unsaturated state with a relatively low volumetric water content of approximately 26%. Fine particle migration does not occur, and the effective stress at the subgrade surface is much greater than zero, thus preventing mud pumping. When the water level is at the top of the subgrade, particle migration is more pronounced. The effective stress at the subgrade surface rapidly decreases to below 0 under the action of the load, resulting in mud pumping phenomena. Compared to unidirectional freezing, freeze-thaw loading results in a slower descent rate of the freezing front and a greater amount of moisture migration. Under thawing conditions, the upper soil layer of the subgrade thaws before the lower soil layer, forming a frozen soil interlayer. Due to the isolation effect of the frozen soil interlayer, the upper soil layer retains a higher moisture content. Under the action of the load, the effective stress at the subgrade surface rapidly develops into negative values, making it more susceptible to mud pumping.
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Open Access
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This paper aims to study the impacts of groundwater seepage on artificial freezing process of gravel strata, the temperature field characteristics of the strata, and the strata process, closure time and thickness evolution mechanism of the frozen wall.
In this paper several laboratory model tests were conducted, considering different groundwater seepage rate.
The results show that there is a significant coupling effect between the cold diffusion of artificial freezing pipes and groundwater seepage; when there is no seepage, temperature fields upstream and downstream of the gravel strata are symmetrically distributed, and the thickness of the frozen soil column/frozen wall is consistent during artificial freezing; groundwater seepage causes significant asymmetry in the temperature fields upstream and downstream of the gravel strata, and the greater the seepage rate, the more obvious the asymmetry; the frozen wall closure time increases linearly with the increase in the groundwater seepage rate, and specifically, the time length under seepage rate of 5.00 m d−1 is 3.2 times longer than that under no seepage; due to the erosion from groundwater seepage, the thickness of the upstream frozen wall decreases linearly with the seepage velocity, while that of the downstream frozen wall increases linearly, resulting in a saddle-shaped frozen wall.
The research results are beneficial to the optimum design and risk control of artificial freezing process in gravel strata.
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