Long-term measurement of frost-heave deformation in geotextile-reinforced soil walls

Some reports have addressed the deformation of geotextile-reinforced soil walls in cold regions. Such deformation is caused by frost heaving of the backfill soil. To control such deformation, the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan specifies techniques for constructing reinforced soil walls. The authors have been examining frost-heave countermeasures for geotextile-reinforced soil walls in cold areas and have conducted 9-year continuous measurements of deformation at full-scale embankments constructed during winter. The 9 years of observations have revealed that frost-heave deformation persists after the snowmelt season and becomes cumulative in years after the first year of frost heaving. It was also found that frost-heave deformation can be controlled to some extent by replacing the soil or installing insulation. Based on experimental constructions that involved replacing the soil or installing insulation, replacement using gravel, which is generally used by the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau, was found to be the most effective way of controlling frost heaving.