# Freezing and Thawing Processes of Highways in Kazakhstan
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Freezing and Thawing
The southeast of the country is represented by stations Balkhash, Almaty, Oskemen, Ucharal, and Zaisan, which belong to the east of the country. Moreover, the south and southwest of the Republic is represented by one station, located in the city of Kazaly. Additionally, the city of Kostanay, as already mentioned above, is located in the north of the Republic. Table 2 summarizes all the data characterizing the geographical coordinates of the location of the stations, the date of the beginning of freezing, and the end of thawing of the soil in each measuring station, and the maximum depth of freezing in each of them. Figure 8 shows combined graphs of freezing-thawing processes at eight measuring stations. This form of presentation of the results of the study allows us to compare the results of individual parameters. For example, although the Oskemen, Ucharal, and Zaisan measuring stations are located in the same geographical region, they differ significantly in the depth of freezing and in the duration of freezing. The duration of freezing of the road sections located near Oskemen, Zaisan, and Ucharal is 165, 128, and 42 days, respectively.The depths of freezing reach 218 cm, 112 cm, and 225 cm. Thus, an example of strong influence of terrain, proximity to a large reservoir, and constant winds on freezing patterns is proved. In the first case, the mountainous terrain around the city of Oskemen affects the process of freezing in that area. Moreover, in the case of Zaisan, the influence of the proximity of a large reservoir is obvious. Different patterns of freezing in the Ucharal region can be explained by the presence of a wind of a constant direction. Almost identical freezing depths in winter 2021-2022 are recorded in Oskemen, Kostanai, and Kosshy (218 cm, 227 cm, 219 cm). Additionally, the duration of freezing is almost the same for all of them. The most difficult thing is to explain the features of the freezing-thawing process in the city of Kazaly. Here, almost for a month, the beginning of freezing is late and, as a result, the freezing depth only reaches 131 cm. As expected, the station near Almaty turned out to be the warmest among the measuring stations under consideration. Here, the freezing depth reaches only 61 cm, with a freezing duration of 104 days. Thus, the geographic coordinates of the area or so-called climate zone do not always determine the magnitude of the freezing depth. To accomplish this, it is also necessary to take into account the duration of stay in the frozen state of the structural layers of the road pavement and the soil base layer, which is determined by the climatic features of the area. The topic of studying the processes of freezing and thawing in roads in the Republic of Kazakhstan is poorly developed, and not a lot is known about it. The practical value of this work lies in its uniqueness, since this topic in such a detailed format (with maximum coverage of all regional features) is being studied experimentally for the first time in Kazakhstan. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Station Name** & **Freezing Start** & **End of Thawing** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Maximum Freezing** \\ **Depth, cm** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Oskemen & 03.11.21 & 29.04.22 & 218 \\ Kostanai & 02.11.21 & 30.04.22 & 227 \\ Balkhash & 12.11.21 & 10.03.22 & 178 \\ Kosshy & 05.11.21 & 30.04.22 & 219 \\ Kazaly & 01.12.21 & 30.04.22 & 131 \\ Almaty & 20.11.21 & 03.03.22 & 61 \\ Ucharal & 10.12.21 & 05.03.22 & 112 \\ Zaisan & 02.11.21 & 10.04.22 & 225 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Maximum freezing depths of roads in Kazakhstan.