Physical and Mechanical Conditions for Primary Frost Crack Formation

Resumo

An idea of B.N. Dostovalov’s to represent a mass of frozen soil, prior to its failure, as an elastic brittle body is considered. An analytical estimate is provided of the temperature field and thermoelastic stresses occurring in the near-surface layer as a result of sudden atmospheric cooling. The principal parameters of primary frost cracks are calculated. An analysis is presented of their dependence on mechanical and thermophysical soil properties and baseline data.