Simple shear creep tests on frozen soils

Direct simple shear tests have been conducted on a variety of reconstituted frozen soils and on ice in order to investigate the load transfer process associated with the adfreeze bond to piles, and to obtain creep properties of frozen soils. The test develops uniform shear strain between plates of different roughnesses provided the applied shear stress is less than the ad freeze strength of the pile. Tests have been performed at about −1°C for durations up to 45 days to explore ultimate creep rates. The long-term flow of ice in this test is consistent with previously published power law relations. The experimental data on the frozen soils indicate how creep rate tends to decrease with increasing density except for dirty ice, which displays creep rates slightly higher than those observed for pure ice.