Experimental study for the compressible behavior of warm and ice-rich frozen soil under the embankment of Qinghai–Tibet Railroad

The permafrost with ice-rich content under the embankment of Qinghai–Tibet Railroad (QTR) is interestingly and increasingly warming, thus potentially posing an adverse effect on the operation of the railroad. This study first shows in-situ data to illustrate the essence of the warming permafrost. Experimental study for the compressible behavior of frozen soil remoulded in the laboratory from the permafrost sample in situ was constructed to characterize the permafrostʹs engineering properties. The results show that the settlement incurred by the additional load from the built embankment will be of considerable magnitude and that, when suffering from an incremental rise in temperature, the settlement will be greatly magnified. This experiment shows that this warm and ice-rich frozen soil is essentially sensitive to both load and temperature warming.