This award is for support of a 3 year interdisciplinary project to study ice-water equilibrium and transport phenomena in porous media and at ice-vapor surfaces. The experiments will be designed in the light of recent advances in the basic physics of surface melting and the extensive literature on unfrozen water in porous soils and rocks. Theoretical studies and laboratory measurements will be intergrated to achieve an understanding of the factors which influence the formation of unfrozen water films between ice and various mineral surfaces. This research has widespread practical applications including better understanding of the disruption of man-made structures due to frost heaving, frost-induced damage to concrete and other porous materials, and ice bonding to roads and other surfaces.
