Experimental investigation of water migration characteristics for saline soil

Soil in western Jilin, China has the properties of a saline soil, seasonal frozen soil, and a dispersive soil, in which the freezing process can induce many engineering and environmental problems, including soil secondary salinization and frost heave. During the freezing process, water, heat, stress, and even solute interact with each other. Water migration plays an important role in this process. In this paper, a sampling point in Nong’an, western Jilin was selected for soil collection and experimental tests. The experiment included two tests: the capillary water test and a water migration test subjected to freezing. The results showed that the height of capillary water is low, while the water migrates obviously after the process of freezing in different conditions. The results indicate that the bound water film hinders the capillary pores, which can impair the matric potential. During the freezing process, the temperature potential and gravitational potential can drive the water to migrate through the bound water film. For the soil in western Jilin, temperature potential plays a decisive role in water migration, but gravitational potential and matric potential have a minor effects.