Abstract: The effect of the freeze and thaw cycles on the cohesion of a silty clay is studied throughout the triaxial shear tests. The test results indicate that the freezethaw cycles have strong influences on the cohesion of the silty clay tested. For samples that have a moisture content of 9% and degree of compaction of 90%, the cohesion reduction has the largest under the first cycles. With the increase of freezethaw cycles, the cohesion reduction magnitude is gradually reduced and the cohesion tends to be stable after 10 freezethaw cycles.

Key words: Freeze-Thaw Cycles, Silty Clay, Soil Cohesion