Experimental and Numerical Study on the Frost-Heaving Characteristics of Subgrade Soil in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Experimental and Numerical Study on the Frost-Heaving Characteristics of Subgrade Soil in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Experimental and Numerical Study on the Frost-Heaving Characteristics of Subgrade Soil in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ying Xiong, Haoming Li, Ning Nan, Junyong Liu, Weiwei Su, Jin Wei This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7402615/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 21 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 29 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Regarding the serious problem of subgrade frost-heaving in season-frozen soil highway engineering in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) region, this paper studied the frost-heaving characteristics (FHC) of subgrade soil with different initial water content (IWC) and fine particle content (FPC) under unidirectional freezing (UDF) and surrounding freezing (SDF) conditions through laboratory tests, and further based on thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupling effect, the variation characteristics of temperature, moisture and stress fields in the subgrade soil were analyzed by numerical method, aiming to provide a reference for the research of prevention and control measures of subgrade frost-heaving. The results show that the frost-heaving deformation (FHD) of subgrade soil can be divided into four stages, and its frost-heaving deformation rate (FHDR) is generally positively correlated with the IWC and FPC, while the freezing condition affects the significance of IWC and FPC on the FHDR. In the gradation design of subgrade soil, the IWC and FPC should be controlled at about 8% and 9% respectively. Compared to the SDF condition, the temperature distribution gradient in the subgrade soil under the UDF condition is significant and there is an obvious freezing front, but there are stress concentration points in the subgrade soil under both freezing conditions. Physical sciences/Engineering Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Earth and environmental sciences/Natural hazards Highway engineering Subgrade soil Frost-heaving characteristic Thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling Laboratory test Numerical analysis Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 21 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 02 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 02 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 02 Sep, 2025 Reviews received at journal 01 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 31 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 31 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 31 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 30 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 30 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 28 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Aug, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Aug, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 25 Aug, 2025 Editor invited by journal 25 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 21 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 21 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7402615","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":508421753,"identity":"dd4ec0ed-724e-40c4-a2d2-0293a64aa6d2","order_by":0,"name":"Ying Xiong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure Limited","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ying","middleName":"","lastName":"Xiong","suffix":""},{"id":508421755,"identity":"280da1a3-a10e-43f6-8814-b54e64ee6cff","order_by":1,"name":"Haoming Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CCCC First Highway Consultants Company Limited","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haoming","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":508421756,"identity":"610cafd9-d0b8-4ebd-8cf2-33a60c2e803c","order_by":2,"name":"Ning Nan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4ElEQVRIie3Qoa7CMBTG8ZImxRxu7UjInuEkS7i5ildpQ4IaBEUqECQjQ8D1CB4CB7guS6YK2EnwE8PhgGAh23CI/vT3F+cQYllfSufqBp2An09CjSsVtWhpqIt1oHgySaWExo2QesiBNc9TWr7/re/1I2FyQxuJkhNG+GwuCpO/xUBEqwPIXfDTS+W2RRyzXxcmqH3U2ciRk5i0U2kYQadfkhwz1MDwmQxlSCskqY8RhMLDGNqkYpLh48nabQas6wiTQPktR9/Lc6WB8zi6XNXY5bP/4uQFfDa3LMuy3roDsc9PncwIK3gAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"CCCC First Highway Consultants Company Limited","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ning","middleName":"","lastName":"Nan","suffix":""},{"id":508421757,"identity":"e181d81a-0334-4b7e-b0d8-ecb640aa22b4","order_by":3,"name":"Junyong Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CCCC First Highway Consultants Company Limited","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Junyong","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":508421758,"identity":"4e48d72b-d594-4775-95ab-94d8cf4b0ce5","order_by":4,"name":"Weiwei Su","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CCCC First Highway Consultants Company Limited","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Weiwei","middleName":"","lastName":"Su","suffix":""},{"id":508421761,"identity":"4748b6f1-be6d-420d-91eb-0ee7491f7937","order_by":5,"name":"Jin Wei","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Changan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jin","middleName":"","lastName":"Wei","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-18 20:08:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7402615/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7402615/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-28778-w","type":"published","date":"2025-11-21T15:58:49+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96650402,"identity":"89fc85c9-6d7d-414b-a763-5323867c2e4f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-24 16:11:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1952396,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ExperimentalandNumericalStudyontheFrostHeavingCharacteristicsofSubgradeSoilintheQinghaiTibetPlateau.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7402615/v1_covered_d5611a3b-1b52-4aba-bb2b-488d5dcda636.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Experimental and Numerical Study on the Frost-Heaving Characteristics of Subgrade Soil in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Highway engineering, Subgrade soil, Frost-heaving characteristic, Thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling, Laboratory test, Numerical analysis, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7402615/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7402615/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRegarding the serious problem of subgrade frost-heaving in season-frozen soil highway engineering in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) region, this paper studied the frost-heaving characteristics (FHC) of subgrade soil with different initial water content (IWC) and fine particle content (FPC) under unidirectional freezing (UDF) and surrounding freezing (SDF) conditions through laboratory tests, and further based on thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupling effect, the variation characteristics of temperature, moisture and stress fields in the subgrade soil were analyzed by numerical method, aiming to provide a reference for the research of prevention and control measures of subgrade frost-heaving. The results show that the frost-heaving deformation (FHD) of subgrade soil can be divided into four stages, and its frost-heaving deformation rate (FHDR) is generally positively correlated with the IWC and FPC, while the freezing condition affects the significance of IWC and FPC on the FHDR. In the gradation design of subgrade soil, the IWC and FPC should be controlled at about 8% and 9% respectively. Compared to the SDF condition, the temperature distribution gradient in the subgrade soil under the UDF condition is significant and there is an obvious freezing front, but there are stress concentration points in the subgrade soil under both freezing conditions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Experimental and Numerical Study on the Frost-Heaving Characteristics of Subgrade Soil in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-02 02:27:21","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7402615/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-09-02T09:26:25+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-02T07:42:34+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-02T07:07:17+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-01T09:17:27+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"267523805535546458339447653882400220593","date":"2025-09-01T07:15:25+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"237384364754074892695643830956420497282","date":"2025-09-01T02:14:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"163580691033949267825875156158829039436","date":"2025-08-31T11:43:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-08-31T08:07:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-08-30T09:58:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-08-30T04:23:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"159999042727642166783178683578082951646","date":"2025-08-29T04:56:55+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"204554043039626695905871119325140929384","date":"2025-08-29T00:29:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-08-28T14:44:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"80320212940821303499657266045774794103","date":"2025-08-27T15:36:21+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"306075281093153604014601368906637943303","date":"2025-08-27T10:23:27+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"214548208356715185936670394367795195613","date":"2025-08-27T03:19:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"199496344562726746145706285943156565193","date":"2025-08-27T02:54:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"120617343132669962667467907770954703490","date":"2025-08-27T01:56:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"101055255415318817554175658606575987138","date":"2025-08-27T01:42:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"282787100868499198797138268764786567355","date":"2025-08-27T01:37:03+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"7077543687299588709071632514249633723","date":"2025-08-27T01:35:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"270149391582193613456356104245621065472","date":"2025-08-27T01:23:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"130029270330158257957885682741156206851","date":"2025-08-25T10:59:36+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"333676043862976551423633079898169731228","date":"2025-08-25T08:26:20+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-08-25T07:52:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-08-25T07:48:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-08-25T07:37:59+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-08-21T18:19:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-08-21T18:15:07+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"0243fd98-2982-495b-90af-344e7422d42d","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 2nd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":53993354,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":53993355,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences"},{"id":53993356,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Natural hazards"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-24T16:07:24+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7402615","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-28778-w","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2025-11-21 15:58:49","publishedOnDateReadable":"November 21st, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-02 02:27:21","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-025-28778-w","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-28778-w","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7402615","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7402615","identity":"rs-7402615","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}