[PERSON] [9] proposed that water migration affects crack initiation and propagation during freeze-thaw cycles and derived a macroscopic and microscopic damage model of rock mass that incorporates compaction deformation and accounts for the water migration mechanism of freeze-thaw damage. The rock mass involved in projects in cold regions is mostly large-volume semi-infinite bodies, such as slopes and tunnels. During freeze-thaw cycling, these rock masses predominantly experience non-uniform freeze-thaw cycles induced by one-sided cooling. Under such conditions, all surfaces of the rock mass experience different temperature boundaries, forming non-uniform temperature gradients [10; 11; 12] inside the rock mass. Under the temperature gradient of unidirectional freeze-thaw, the rock shows non-uniform frost heaving characteristics. [PERSON] [13] conducted saturated unidirectional freeze-thaw tests on samples of different rocks and preliminarily discussed the relationship between frost heaving and the freeze-thaw rate, freeze-thaw duration, and unfrozen water content. Based on the frost heaving test results, [PERSON] et al. [14] proposed an innovative method to calculate anisotropic parameters. [PERSON] et al. [15] established a coupled thermomechanical model of rock incorporating a unidirectional freezing temperature field and used this model to study the influence of the temperature gradient on frost-heave deformation. [PERSON] et al. [16] proposed a multiphase porous mechanical model to simulate the growth and melting of ice lenses. [PERSON], [PERSON] et al. [17; 18] argued that the theoretical values calculated by capillary theory are not always consistent with the experimental values and that capillary theory fails to provide a reasonable mechanism to explain the formation of new lenses. Based on the generalized Clapeyron equation and the thin film water migration driving force model, [PERSON] et al. [19] constructed a generalized Clapeyron equation mechanical model, and believed that the frozen macropores produced concentrated suction at the curved ice-water interface, which drove the migration of capillary water in the unfrozen micropores and thin film water on the particle surface to the inside of the frozen macropores. The migration of pore water caused by a temperature gradient results in uneven water distribution within the rock and soil, which in turn leads to uneven frost-heaving damage. This paper investigates the influence of freeze-thaw direction on rock strength. In unidirectional freeze-thaw cycle tests, rock specimens are wrapped with thermal insulation to confine heat transfer to the upper surface only. During the freeze-thaw cycles, specimen strain is monitored, and differences in freeze-thaw damage attributable to the direction of the temperature gradient are analyzed. The influence of different freeze-thaw cycle regimes on the microstructure of the rock specimens is analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The differences in rock strength resulting from unidirectional versus all-directionalfreeze-thaw cycles can provide valuable insights for the design and maintenance of rock engineering structures in cold regions.