The influence of geosynthetic properties on their shear behaviors at the interface with frozen soil

Abstract

This paper investigates the shear properties of the interfaces between sand and short-staple nonwoven geotextile (GT1), long-staple nonwoven geotextile (GT2), and geomembrane (GM) under varying conditions of testing temperature, sand moisture content, and normal stress through temperature-controlled direct shear tests. The results reveal that the shear stress-shear displacement curves for the sand-GT1 and sand-GM interfaces can be broadly categorized into an elastic deformation stage, a nonlinear growth stage, and a stable stage. However, the sand-GT2 interface displays a continuously increasing trend throughout the experiment. The peak friction angles of the interfaces increase significantly as the temperature decreases, following the order GT1 > GT2 > GM. The average residual friction angle of sand with GT1, GT2, and GM decreased by 14.8%, 10.4%, and 31.1%, respectively, compared to the peak friction angle. The peak cohesion at the sand-GM interface is relatively weaker than that at the sand-GT1 and sand-GT2 interfaces. The shear mechanisms between frozen soil and geotextiles involve ice cementation, rolling, interlocking, and fiber tensioning, while the shear mechanisms between frozen soil and GM comprise ice cementation, rolling, indentation, and plowing.