Frost heaving is a discontinuous phenomenon. It starts from rupture in the partially frozen soil called the frozen fringe and then segregation of an ice lens follows in the rupture. Macroscopically, the above-mentioned cycle repeats consistently as soil freezes. The rupture of the frozen fringe should govern the initial conditions of ice lens growth; however, it has not been studied so far. In this paper, the rupture is studied assuming that it has a close relationship with the tensile strength of the frozen fringe. The compressive strength of frozen soil was well-studied in the last century. However, the tensile strength of frozen soil in frozen fringe temperature is discussed along with the unfrozen water content of Dotan and ice tensile strength, and a simplified soil structure model. The tensile strength of the frozen fringe seems to be primarily due to the tensile strength of the pore ice framework.
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