Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Cold Regions Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coldregions

Design and validation of a new dynamic direct shear apparatus for

frozen soil
Jiankun Liu ⁎, Yinghui Cui, Pengcheng Wang, Peng Lv
Department of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The dynamic parameters of frozen soil are important for both engineering design and numerical simulation,
Received 23 April 2014 which directly affect the accuracy of calculations. This paper describes the development of a new dynamic direct
Accepted 24 July 2014 shear apparatus and provides a comprehensive analysis of its capability, measurement and control systems. The
Available online 1 August 2014
calibration test results show that this dynamic direct shear apparatus is suitable for studying the dynamic
characteristics of frozen soil and interfaces behavior between different materials.
Keywords:
Frozen soil
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Dynamic load
Dynamic direct shear apparatus
Dynamic parameters

1. Introduction
In recent years, construction on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been
increasing, including the Qinghai-Tibet railway and highway, the oil
pipeline from Golmud to Lhasa, and etc. However, tectonic activity in
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is very frequent, which can be detrimental
to all engineered structures. Since 2003, 7–8 magnitude earthquakes
have occurred in succession, especially in the West Kunlun Pass and
Yushu area. This seismic activity and increasing traffic load may cause
damage to transportation infrastructure, especially for subgrade on
slopes in warm permafrost, cannot be ignored in cold regions.
The dynamic parameters of frozen soil are important factors for both
engineering design and numerical simulation in seismic active zone,
which directly affect the accuracy of calculations. Compared with the
studies on statics of frozen soil, researches on dynamic characteristics
of frozen soil started relatively late. In the 1960s, scholars began the
frozen soil experiments under different parameters like temperature,
moisture, soil type, confining pressure, loading frequency, amplitude,
and other aspects of dynamic loads, and proposed new results on
dynamic stress–strain relationships and dynamic strength.
Currently, most dynamic parameters of frozen soil are obtained by
conducting dynamic triaxial test. Vinson and Li (1980) studied Young's
modulus and Poisson's ratio of frozen soil subjected to different
confining pressures and temperatures with dynamic triaxial tests.
Jessberger and Jordan (1982) discussed the influence of temperature
and frequency on the elastic and plastic deformation by cyclic triaxial
loadings tests. Shen and Zhang (1997) conducted experiments under
constant strain amplitude dynamic mode and revealed the relationship
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 10 51684096.
E-mail address: jkliu@bjtu.edu.cn (J. Liu).
between dynamic strength and static effective normal stress. Xu et al.
(1998) used a triaxial MTS-810 to study the stress–strain relationship
of frozen soil, the dynamic elastic modulus, and a dynamic Poisson's
ratio with negative temperature vibration. Wu et al. (2004) studied dy-
namic constitutive models of remolded frozen Lanzhou loess and varia-
tion laws of the dynamic elastic modulus at different temperatures
(− 2 °C, − 5 °C, − 7 °C, and − 10 °C) based on triaxial tests under
seismic loads. Zhao et al. (2003) conducted dynamic triaxial tests
under dynamic loads of constant amplitude and found that the dynamic
elastic modulus increased with increasing frequency or decreasing
temperature, while the damping ratio of frozen soil showed an opposite
trend. Wang et al. (2012) investigated the dynamic strain induced by
train loading with laboratory dynamic triaxial tests, and documented
the effects of the numbers of cyclic loadings, freezing temperature,
and water content on resilient and accumulative plastic strains of frozen
silt clay. Zhang et al. (2008) found that frozen soil dynamic strength was
not only affected by vibration times, but also had a relationship with the
effective energy absorbed by the soil under cyclic action.
As for the apparatus, Da Re et al. (2003) designed a high-pressure,
low-temperature triaxial testing system to study the physical mecha-
nisms controlling the strength-deformation behavior of frozen sands.
The computer controlled system is capable of performing high-stress
monotonic triaxial compression tests on specimens and incorporates
advanced technology for temperature, strain rate, and loading control,
here the static test can only be conducted. Fox et al. (2006) developed
a large direct shear machine for static and dynamic shear strength
testing of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) and GCL liner systems, but it
is not temperature controlled. Ross et al. (2011) developed a large-
scale dynamic direct shear apparatus to study the interface shear
strength between a textured geomembrane (GMX) and a needle-
punched geosynthetic clay liner (NP GCL) under cyclic loading with

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2014.07.010
0165-232X/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
208 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215

Fig. 1. Structure diagram of frozen soil dynamic direct shear apparatus.

no temperature control system. Yao et al. (2013) developed a loading system was designed with three aspects: pump performance,
temperature-controlled triaxial test system that can conduct Ko load-matching, and the hydraulic system.
condition test and measure volumetric strain of frozen soils precisely,
but only for static loading. So far, no temperature-controlled dynamic
2.2. Pump performance design
direct shear test system has been reported.
Direct shear apparatus has many advantages as easy operation,
The original idea to develop this device was to study the dynamic
simple structure, faster consolidation, greater stiffness, clear physical
shear strength of warm permafrost, especially at the frozen–thaw inter-
meaning and so on, and is widely used in geotechnical engineering.
face at the permafrost table, to obtain the parameters for slope stability
This paper aims to develop an efficient direct shear system that can
analysis under dynamic loading, so the shearing force limit of the devel-
apply dynamic shearing load of various forms and control temperature
oped device should be estimated based on possible shear strength of
precisely, its designed structure, power system, measurement and con-
warm frozen soil. According to Li et al. (2010), the dynamic shear
trol systems were introduced, and a series of temperature-controlled
strength of the frozen soil is around 1.5 MPa, based on this, the maxi-
dynamic shearing tests were carried out to calibrate the device.
mum shearing load limit of the actuator was set at 20 kN. According
to Shen and Zhang (1997), the characteristic frequency of earthquakes
2. Main components of a new dynamic direct shear apparatus is generally less than 4 Hz, so the vibrational frequency of the actuator
was determined in the range of 0.5–4 Hz. The ultimate performance
A new dynamic direct shear apparatus was developed to measure parameters of the power system are shown in Table 1. The vertical static
the dynamic parameters both for frozen soil and interfaces between load was applied by conventional equilibrium mass.
different materials. The entire dynamic direct shear system consists of
the following main components: dynamic shearing loading system, 2.3. Load matching design
temperature measuring and controlling instruments, a displacement
measuring device, and a data acquisition system, as shown in Fig. 1. Based on the power system's bandwidth and piston stroke, the effec-
Each component of this device was designed by the authors. tive area of the hydraulic actuator was finally set as 3 × 10−3 m2, and

2.1. Design of the dynamic actuator

A hydraulic power system provides the needed power, which is also

the core of the whole system. Cooperatively working with the
computer-controlled hydraulic pump, the actuator controlled by a
valve can apply force to the bottom shear box. The signals of force and
displacement are then fed back to the computer-controlled system by
the measuring device integrated in the actuator, and all output of stress
and strain will be recorded automatically. Thus, this hydraulic power

Table 1
Performance parameters of dynamic loading system performance.

Design project Load amplitude Piston stroke Vibrational

range (kN) (mm) frequency (Hz)

Performance parameters 1–20 −50 to 50 0.5–4

Fig. 2. Figure of load-matching.
 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215 209

Table 2
Performance parameters of the hydraulic pump system.

Unit name Performance parameters

Variable pump Working pressure: 7.0 MPa, Maximum flow: 72 L/min, System
accuracy of filtration 25p
Pump motor Motor power: 15 kW
Servo valve Deflector jet valve: SFL223, No-load flow under 7 MPa: 60 L/min
Actuator Rated working pressure: 7 MPa, Piston stroke: 200 mm, Piston
diameter: 70 mm, Rod diameter: 32 mm
Fuel tank Capacity: 500 L
Cooling tank Water cooling, Column tubular oil cooler: 2LQFL,
Structural style: Tube-fin condenser,
Cooling area: 0.65 m2,
Working pressure: 1 MPa,
Oil pressure drop ≤ 0.1 MPa,
Water pressure drop ≤ 0.015 MPa,
Working temperature of water: 25–30 °C,
Working temperature of oil ≤ 100 °C ° Fig. 4. Schematic of temperature-controlled direct shear box: bottom box.

(2) Structural stability. Besides sufficient stiffness and strength, the

box should be stable under cyclic loading to transfer the power
precisely to the soil. Therefore, the shear box was ultimately
the oil pressure was determined as 7 MPa. Given typical conditions, load
was fabricated from a Q235 steel plate that was 16 mm thick.
matching should not be less than 56 L/min, with reservation it was
(3) Precise temperature control. The concept of a conventional direct
finally set at 60 L/min. The load matching is shown in Fig. 2, where
shear box was improved, and details are shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.
the ordinate represents the telescopic speed of the hydraulic piston,
and the actuator load is on the abscissa. The solid line represents the
The inner dimensions of the top box are 100 mm × 100 mm × 40 mm,
servo valve characteristic curve, and the dashed line is the trajectory
and the outer are 150 mm × 150 mm × 40 mm. The inner and outer
of the load curve. The servo valve meets the performance requirements
dimensions of the bottom box are 100 mm × 100 mm × 30 mm, and
when the dashed line is encircled by the solid line.
100 mm × 100 mm × 45 mm, respectively. The internal structure was
not welded but milled from a block of steel with enough stiffness and
2.4. Hydraulic system design
strength. A 6-mm-thick steel plate was welded to the outside of the
box to make it leak-proof. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the hollow portion
The hydraulic system (Li et al., 2012) was designed by the School of
of the box was milled into fins that are 12 mm deep and 1 mm thick
Mechanical Engineering at Beijing Jiaotong University. According to the
and have 2-mm intervals. Two holes of 5-mm diameter were milled on
results of system performance parameters and load matching, all the
the outside where the hydraulic joints were installed to connect the
performance parameters of the hydraulic pump system are shown in
cooling bath. Thermal insulation materials are adhered to the outside of
Table 2.
the box to reduce heat loss.
The cooling bath employed was an A40-type cold bath cycler, the
2.5. Design of temperature-controlled shear box, and performance analysis
main parameters of which are listed in Table 3. Glycol-water with a
low freezing point was selected as the refrigerating fluid.
During each test, the direct shear box will play a dual role: transmit-
Experiments were conducted to test the cooling effect of the direct
ting the power from the actuator to the soil sample and accurately
shear box. The initial temperature in laboratory was 18.5 °C. Silty clay
controlling the temperature. The specific design requirements and
(liquid limit: 48.6%, plastic limit: 21.5%) taken from the subgrade of
scheme of the box are as follows:
the Harbin–Dalian high-speed railway passenger line was used, which
(1) Box size. According to Zhang and Hou (2012), the direct shear was compacted in the box at a moisture content of 17.92%. Temperature
box should be more than 35 times larger than the particle size, probes (PT100, temperature acquisition range of −100 °C to ~100 °C,
so that the size effect could be negligible. Based on this, the resolution of 0.1 °C) were embedded in the sample to monitor temper-
final size of the shear box was 100 mm × 100 mm × 60 mm. ature variation. Two separate experiments were carried out with

Fig. 3. Schematic of temperature-controlled direct shear box: top box. Fig. 5. Complete figure of temperature-controlled direct shear box.
210 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215

Table 3
A40-type cooling bath performance parameters.

Temperature range −28 °C to 150 °C

Cooling capacity 800 W
Bath volume 12 L
Nominal voltage 230 V, 50 Hz
Maximum pressure 300 mbar/4.35 psi
Temperature error 0.02 °C
Flow velocity 17 L/min

different target temperatures (−5 °C, −1 °C). The temperature record- Fig. 7. Joint design of the actuator and the workbench diagram.
ing interval was 30 min and the results are shown in Fig. 6.
About 9.1 h was needed to cool the soil to −5 °C, whereas when the actuator can connect to the box to apply force to the sample. Through
target temperature was −1 °C it took only 7.3 h to stabilize. these measures, the actuator can be firmly affixed to the workbench.

2.6. Connecting the actuator and the workbench 2.7. Measuring system

The workbench of the instrument provides a stable working
platform for experiments. In contrast to a traditional direct shear
apparatus, a steel plate was welded to the left of the workbench to
connect the actuator, as shown in Fig. 7. Also shown in this figure, the
axial length of the actuator is 680 mm and a square steel plate
(380 mm × 380 mm × 20 mm) was welded to the central part. Holes
with a radius of 32 mm were drilled at the corners of steel plate with
320-mm spacing. The actuator shaft with a diameter of 35 mm can
extend 200 mm forward. The actuator is fixed to the splice plate
(400 mm × 400 mm × 25 mm) with four screws. Spring washers and
rubber pads were placed between the screws and nuts to reduce
vibration disturbance. A hole of 100 mm in diameter was made in the
middle of the steel plate through which the telescopic shaft of the
The measuring system for stress, strain and temperature during a
test was designed as follows:
The stress–strain measuring system consisting of the force and
displacement sensors was fixed in the head of the actuator, which can
transmit the data signal to the computer with ± 0.02 N accuracy at
20 Hz to ~1000 Hz sampling frequency. Data including dynamic stress
vs.time, feedback stress vs. time, and strain vs. time can be then obtained
and recorded by the computer in a ‘.txt’ format file.
The temperature data acquisition system consists of PT100 thermal
sensors and a data acquisition instrument. Each sensor, with an accuracy
range of ±0.1 °C, can be inserted into the soil sample and the scale on it
can show its position. During tests, the temperature variation at any time
can be detected and measured.

Fig. 6. Soil temperature–freezing time curve.

 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215 211

Table 4
The basic parameters of the tested soil.

Specific gravity Liquid limit (%) Plastic limit (%) Plasticity index Maximum dry density (kg/m3) Optimum moisture content (%)

2.71 48.6 21.5 27.1 18.23 18.1

Displacement (mm) 35
30
25
20
15
10
5
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
120
100
Stress (kPa)

80
60
40
20
0
-20
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
Vibration times

Fig. 8. Displacement time–history curve and stress time–history curve.

3. Validation: Dynamic elastic modulus accumulated to 15%. The resulting dynamic load–time curve and dis-
placement–time curve are shown in Fig. 8, and the stress–strain curve
Experiments on the subgrade fill from the Harbin–Dalian high-speed is shown in Fig. 9. Five typical cycles were selected for analysis, as
railway passenger line were carried out to test the performance of the shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
whole system. The basic parameters of the soil are shown in Table 4. The dynamic elastic modulus (Ed) of soil can be calculated with the
The soil was prepared to a moisture content of 18.1%, and evapora- following equation (see Fig. 12):
tion was prevented for 6 h. Then the soil was compacted in layers in
the shear box, which was finally frozen to − 3 °C for 24 h in a cold σ max:deviator
bath. During the 10-min shearing process, the soil temperature was Ed ¼ : ð1Þ
ε max:axial
kept at 1 ± 0.1 °C.
A typical seismic frequency of 1 Hz was adopted with sinusoidal
oscillation and an overburden pressure of 80 kPa. A static axial force of The calculated dynamic elastic modulus of the soil was 83.7 MPa,
60 kPa was initially applied before a dynamic load with an amplitude which was close to the research of He (1997).
of 40 kPa. The test was finished after 1956 cycles when the strain
4. Validation: Comparison of dynamic direct shear tests and dynamic
triaxial tests
120

Soil samples of the same type, moisture content, and sampling

100 methods were selected for both tests. Two experiments were carried
out at − 1 °C, with 40 cyclic loads of 1 Hz. The results are shown in
80 Figs. 13, 14 and 15.
From the results, we observed: Both systems can provide stable
Stress (kPa)

60
dynamic loads, and the stress values were approximately the same.
The dynamic direct shear tests reached a steady state relatively slower,
while the final strain was almost the same. By comparing the hysteresis
40
curves, the dynamic modulus of elasticity calculated from the dynamic
direct shear tests was for 5% larger.
20
5. Validation: Dynamic shear on the interface between different
0 materials

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Compared with the dynamic triaxial apparatus, the dynamic direct

Strain (%) shear apparatus can study the mechanical behavior of interfaces
between different materials. A schematic diagram of the test is shown
Fig. 9. Dynamic loading stress–strain hysteresis curve. in Fig. 16.
212 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215

11.22

Displacement (mm)
10.88

10.54

10.20

9.86

328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335

88

66
Stress (kPa)

44

22

328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335

Vibration times

Fig. 10. Five cycles of displacement time–history curve and stress time–history curve.

A 100 mm × 100 mm × 60 mm concrete block was made in the Acknowledgments

laboratory and placed into the bottom box, while the top box was filled
with the remolded soil described in Section 3, with a compaction degree
of 96%. The whole sample, including the concrete and soil, was frozen
to − 1 °C and then maintained for 24 h before the experiment. The vi-
bration frequency of 1 Hz was adopted, and each level lasted for 60 s be-
fore being increased by 0.1 kN to the next level. Test results are shown
in Figs. 17 and 18. More details can be found in Lv et al. (2013).
6. Conclusion
A new dynamic direct shear apparatus was developed and calibrated
by experiments with dynamic triaxial apparatus, which provide an
alternative way to study the dynamic properties for warm frozen soil
and for frozen–thaw interface in soil with a maximum shearing force
of 20 kN and 4 Hz frequency, its structure and main performance
parameters were also presented.
This project is supported by the National 973 Project of China (No.
2012CB026104), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.
41371081 and 51378057), and the Doctor Innovation Fund of Beijing
Jiaotong University (No. KCJB12023536).
References
Da Re, Gregory, John T., Germaine, Ladd, Charles C., 2003. Triaxial testing of frozen sand:
equipment and example results. J. Cold Reg. Eng. 17 (3), 90–118.
Fox, P.J., Nye, C.J., Morrison, T.C., et al., 2006. Large dynamic direct shear machine for
geosynthetic clay liners. ASTM Geotech. Test. J. 29 (5), 392–400.
He, Changrong, 1997. Dynamic triaxial test on modulus and damping. Chin. J. Geotech.
Eng. 19 (2), 39–48.
Jessberger, Hans L., Jordan, Peter, 1982. Frozen Saline Sand Subjected to Dynamic Loads.
US Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab, Hanover, NH, USA, pp. 19–25.
Li, Yongbo, Zhang, Hongru,Kejiang, Quan, 2012. Development of dynamic frozen soil-pile
interaction model experimental system. Chin. J. Geotech. Eng. 34 (4), 774–780.
Lv, Peng, Liu, JianKun, Cui, Yinghui, 2013. A study of dynamic shear strength of frozen
soil-concrete contact interface. Rock Soil Mech. 34 (S2), 180–183.

96 96

84
80
72
64
60
Stress (kPa)
Stress (kPa)

48 48
max

36
32
24
16
12

0 0
max

0.066 0.068 0.070 0.072 0.074 0.076 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5
Strain (%) Strain (%)

Fig. 11. Five cycles of dynamic loading stress–strain hysteresis curve. Fig. 12. Dynamic elastic modulus calculation schematics.
 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215 213

Li, Qingze, Lai, Yuanming, Xu, Xiangtian, 2010. Triaxial strength distribution of warm
frozen soil and its damage statistical constitutive model [J]. J. Glaciol. Geocryol. 32
(6), 1234–1241.
Ross, J.D., Fox, P.J., Olsta, J.T., 2011. Dynamic shear response of a geomembrane/
geosynthetic clay liner interface. Geo-Frontiers 2011,Advances in Geotechnical
EngineeringASCE, pp. 2010–2020.
Shen, Zhongyan, Zhang, Jiayi, 1997. Dynamic strength characteristics and failure criterion
of frozen silt. J. Glaciol. Geocryol. 19 (2), 141–148.
Zhang, Shujuan, Lai, Yuanming, Li, Shuangyang, et al., 2008. Dynamic strength of frozen
soils. Chin. J. Geotech. Eng. 30 (4), 595–599.
Vinson, T.S., Li, J.C., 1980. Dynamic properties of frozen sand under simulated earthquake
loading conditions. Proceedings of the Seventh World Conference on Earthquake
Engineering. Turkish National Committee on Earthquake Engineering, Istanbul, pp.
225–240.
Wang, Lina, Ling, Xianzhang, Li, Qionglin, 2012. Experimental analyses of train-induced
deformation behavior of frozen silt clay. China Civ. Eng. J. 45 (7), 42–47.
Wu, Zhijian, Zhong, Congli, Ma, Wei, 2004. Laboratory study on dynamic parameters of
frozen soil under seismic dynamic loading. Northwest. Seismol. J. 25 (3), 220–224.
Xu, Xueyan,Zhong, Congli,Chen, Yaming, 1998. Research on dynamic characters of frozen
soil and determination of its parameters. Chin. J. Geotech. Eng. 20 (5), 77–82.
Yao, Xiaoliang,Qi, Jilin,Fan, Yu.,Ma, Ling, 2013. A versatile triaxial test apparatus for frozen
soil. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 92, 48–54.
Zhang, Qi, Hou, MeiYing, 2012. Research on size effect of direct shear test. Acta Phys. Sin.
61 (24), 1–6.
Zhao, Shuping, Zhu, Yuanlin, He, Ping, Wang, Dayan, 2003. Testing study on dynamic
mechanics parameters of frozen soil. Chin. J. Rock Mech. Eng. 22 (S2), 2677–2681.

——Dynamic triaxial tests

700

650

600
Stress(kPa)

550

500

450

400

350

300

-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (s)
700
——Dynamic direct shear tests

650

600

550
Stress(kPa)

500

450

400

350

300

-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (s)

Fig. 13. Comparison of stress results in two tests.

214 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215

——Dynamic triaxial tests

0.80

0.75

0.70

Strain (%)
0.65

0.60

0.55

0.50

0.45

-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (s)

0.90 ——Dynamic direct shear tests

0.75
Strain (%)

0.60

0.45

0.30

0.15

-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (s)

Fig. 14. Comparison of strain results in two tests.

——Dynamic triaxial tests

700
650
600
Stress(kPa)

550
500
450
400
350
300

0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 0.70 0.75 0.80

Strain (%)

700 ——Dynamic direct shear tests

650
600
550
Stress(kPa)

500
450
400
350
300
250

0.12 0.24 0.36 0.48 0.60 0.72 0.84

Strain (%)

Fig. 15. Comparison of hysteresis curve in two tests.

 J. Liu et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 106–107 (2014) 207–215 215

Fig. 16. Test on different materials' interface schematic diagram.

4.0
Displacement 10
Dynamic load 3.5
20 8

6
3.0
Dynamic load (kN)

15
Displacement (mm)

Dynamic load (kN)

2 2.5
10
0
2.0
-2
5
-4 1.5

-6
0 1.0
-8

-10 0.5
-5
0 100 200 300 400 21.6 21.7 21.8 21.9 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3
Time (s) Displacement (mm)

Fig. 17. Displacement and dynamic load curve of a typical loading process. Fig. 18. One level load–displacement hysteresis curve.