A Comparison of Soil Improvement Techniques for Frost Heave Mitigation

Frost action including frost heaving and thaw weakening is a common phenomenon in cold regions, which cover geographically more than half of the land area of the earth. Frost action has long been a nightmare in the management of built infrastructure in cold regions. It causes damage to transportation infrastructures and many other earth structures subjected to freezing and thawing. Cracked pavements, jacked up bridge foundations, tilted structures, malfunctioning utilities, broken pipelines, etc., all are examples of damage suffered from frost action. Billions of dollars are spent every year for repair and maintenance of the infrastructure in cold regions. Based on the records of the national transportation research group TRIP (The Road Information Program), the U.S. government spends over 2 billion dollars per year on rebuilding the thousands of miles of pavement that are destroyed by frost action, without counting the cost of the maintenance and minor damages reparations.