Objective As a typical seasonal frozen soil region in China, the northeast black soil region will experience repeated freeze-thaw cycles during the spring thawing period, resulting in changes in soil structure and water transport characteristics, affecting water infiltration. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of freeze-thaw on soil infiltration characteristics in the northeast black soil region.

Method The northeast black soil was used to study the variation of the initial and stable infiltration rate of soil under different thawing depths, freeze-thaw cycles and initial water contents with the simulated freeze-thaw tests.

Result There was no significant difference between the initial infiltration rate and the stable infiltration rate under different thawing depths. The soil infiltration rate was relatively high and reached the peak value when the freezing and thawing cycles were 7 - 15. Initial water content has a significant effect on the initial and stable infiltration rate of soil, which both decreased with the increase of initial water content.

Conclusion The number of freeze-thaw cycles and initial soil water content are the main factors affecting freeze-thaw soil infiltration in northeast black soil region, but the thawing depth (< 5 cm) has no significant effect on freeze-thaw soil infiltration.