Field experiment and stochastic model of uncertain thermal processes of artificial frozen wall around multi-circle freezing pipe

Abstract

Thermal analysis of artificial frozen soil around multi-circle freezing pipe is an important part of the design, construction and operation of the artificial frozen wall. The environment of the artificial freezing engineering is often high confining pressure and hydraulic pressure, and the coupling effect between the heat transfer and fluid flow is very obvious. This can directly affect the thermal properties of artificial frozen wall. To assess the uncertain thermal properties of multi-circle frozen wall, a series of field experiments of the artificial freezing engineering are carried out, and the statistical thermal properties of freezing pipe and artificial frozen wall are obtained. A coupling model of stochastic thermal and hydrodynamic processes is proposed, and the uncertain thermal properties are computed by a stochastic coupling program. The accuracy of the stochastic coupling model is verified by experiment data. The work presents a innovative coupling approach to evaluate the stochastic thermal properties of multi-circle frozen wall, and it shows that the stochastic thermal effect of artificial frozen wall will increase considering the randomness of hydraulic conductivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity. The fluid flow can obstruct the uncertain heat transfer processes, and it can reduce the average thickness and raise the average temperature. This stochastic coupling model of uncertain heat transfer and fluid flow of artificial frozen soil can accurately reflect the high confining pressure and hydraulic pressure, and the results and conclusions of this work can provide a reliable reference for artificial freezing design in soft and water-bearing ground.