Abstract:
The performance of coarse-grained fillers directly affects the firmness, stability, and durability of high-speed railway foundations. By conducting freeze-thaw cycle tests and mechanical property tests on geopolymer-stabilized coarse-grained fillers (GSCGFs), the effects of gradation, compaction degree, and freeze-thaw cycle times on the integrity and compressive strength of GSCGFs were studied. Based on the damage factor defined by compressive strength, the evolution law of freeze-thaw damage of GSCGFs was quantitatively explored. The results show that the mass loss rate of group B is smaller than that of group A when the compaction degree and freeze-thaw cycle times remain unchanged. The mass loss rate increases with the decrease of compaction degree when the gradation and freeze-thaw cycle times remain unchanged, and increases nonlinearly with the increase of freeze-thaw cycle times, The overall quality loss rate of GSCGFs after 4-5 freeze-thaw cycles exceeds 5%. The degree of strength degradation and stiffness attenuation of GSCGFs increases with decreasing compaction degree, and first increase and then stabilize with increasing freeze-thaw cycles. Under a high compaction degree (95%), the strength loss of group A is smaller than that of group B, a trend which reversed at a low compaction degree (89%). Moreover, group A suffered roughly twice the stiffness attenuation. A damage evolution model based on compressive strength and the number of freeze-thaw cycles was derived to quantitatively characterize the damage characteristics of GSCGFs. Except for group A with a compaction degree of 89%, the overall damage factor of each group is concentrated in the range of 0.25~0.4. The results can provide theoretical support for the engineering application and promotion of GSCGFs.