Experimental and Theoretical Determination of the Frost-Heave Cracking Law and the Crack Propagation Criterion of Slab Track with Water in the Crack

Crack propagation produced by frost heave affects the durability of slab-track structures in high-humidity and cold regions in China. This work is intended to reveal the evolution laws of frost-heave crack propagation, establish evaluation criteria for crack propagation, and investigate factors involved in frost-heave crack propagation. Firstly, by preparing slab-track specimens with initial cracks, an experiment of frost-heave crack propagation was designed. The process of frost-heave crack propagation was carried out by means of digital image correlation (DIC) technology and acoustic emission (AE) technology, respectively. These experiments revealed the evolution laws of generalized strain and AE events’ location during crack initiation and propagation, respectively, and the key parameters of micro-crack initiation strain and unstable propagation strain were obtained. By using theoretical and experimental analysis, a double-strain criterion for frost-heave crack propagation was proposed. Finally, factors involved in frost-heave crack propagation were investigated. The results show that crack initiation can be reflected by the crack-tip strain. The average micro-crack initiation strain and unstable propagation strain were found to be 224 μe and 243 μe, respectively. Moreover, it was found that the frost-heave crack propagation was caused by an ice plug which formed at the crack opening. When the crack width is larger than 2.7 mm and the external temperature is lower than −6.6 °C, cracks propagate easily under the frost-heave force.