This paper summarizes an extensive laboratory program undertaken to study the influence of soil type, temperature, and salinity on the strength of three different frozen soils under conditions of unconfined constant strain rate tests. Since the effects of temperature and salinity can be unified by studying the variation of unfrozen water content, measurements of unfrozen water at different temperatures were carried out using the time-domain reflectometry (TDR) method. The stress-strain behavior is influenced by the presence of fine particles in the soil, and an increase in temperature and salinity (unfrozen water content) causes a significant loss of strength. For each soil tested, a predictive model of its strength in terms of salinity and temperature (unfrozen water content) is presented.
Saline permafrost has a detrimental impact on the performance of foundations. Increased pore-water salinity decreases the strength and increases the deformation susceptibility of permafrost and foundations installed in permafrost. A data base of the distribution of saline permafrost in the Northwest Territories shows high pore-water salinities beneath coastal communities and at locations along the upper Mackenzie Valley and within the Mackenzie Delta. Salinity of inland sites is usually low. High salinities are usually associated with ice-poor materials and are linked with previous marine submergence associated with glacial events. Key words : permafrost, saline distribution, measurements, Quaternary geology.
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