<p>The water ice phase transformation phenomenon of fractured rocks during freeze–thaw (F-T) cycle leads to frost heaving force in rock mass. Under the repeated action of frost heaving force, the rock mass produces frost heave deformation. It leads to the gradual accumulation of expansion and contraction deformation, and even the crack propagation, which poses a serious threat to the stability of the rock mass. This work conducts frost heaving strain monitoring tests to experimentally investigate the frost heave deterioration mechanism of fractured rock samples drilled from plateaus in China. The evolution characteristics of frost heave deformation, as well as influences of crack size and freezing temperature on frost heave behavior are characterized. The theoretical model of frost heave deformation during F-T progress is established, and the crack propagation rate caused by frost heave of rock mass is obtained. The results indicate that the frost heaving strain evolution in fractured rocks during F-T cycles is characterized by five distinct stages. The peak and residual frost heaving strain increase with the number of F-T cycles, following a power function and a quadratic polynomial trend, respectively. The rationality of the theoretical model is verified by frost heaving deformation test, demonstrating that the model can provide a novel method for applying frost heave load in subsequent numerical simulation studies when open pit in cold region is selected as the research item.</p>