Field and numerical studies of an arctic highway embankment compacted with frozen fill over permafrost

Abstract

Highway embankments in arctic regions are constructed during winter because 1) of ease in moving fill materials, 2) to preserve the permafrost, and 3) to minimize environmental impact. This means that the fill is often frozen during compaction. There is uncertainty about the performance of embankments in arctic regions that are compacted with fill that is initially frozen and then experiences natural thawing during subsequent summers. This study will look into the performance of a highway embankment test section in the newly-constructed Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Numerical modeling of the embankment temperatures and deformations were calibrated with measurements from the field instrumentation over the first thawing season. The calibrated numerical models were used to investigate important factors affecting the performance of the embankment during and shortly after construction.