Water and salt migration mechanisms of saturated chloride clay during freeze-thaw in an open system

Water and salt migration mechanisms are of great significance for understanding the frost heave and thaw settlement of saline soils during freeze-thaw (F-T). In this study, unidirectional open-system F-T tests were conducted on saturated clay specimens with various chloride salt contents to investigate water and salt migration mechanisms. Relevant parameters, including temperature, unfrozen water content, bulk electrical conductivity, matric suction, and water intake volume, were measured continuously during testing. Besides, the water molecule mobility was obtained by the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance relaxometry tests to help understand the water and salt migration mechanisms. The test results indicated that the freezing front development was highly dependent on salt content. The matric suction gradient was found to be the driving force of water-salt migration, which was larger in specimens with lower salt content and led to more water intake. The migration of water and salt was asynchronous due to their different driving mechanisms during F-T. Specifically, salt migration was affected by both convection and diffusion, while water migration was primarily driven by convection. This phenomenon was also confirmed by the different patterns in water and salt redistributions after F-T. Meanwhile, pore water in the frozen specimens with different salinity and the same unfrozen water content was found to have the same water molecule mobility. Both the matric suction and water molecule mobility were dependent on unfrozen water content but independent on salt content. However, the salt content has a significant effect on the soil freezing point depression, which further affects the matric suction and water molecule mobility.