Multiphysics coupling material point method for modelling frost heave of rock slope

Abstract

Frost heave is a complex multiphysics coupling problem, and the use of numerical methods to solve such coupling problems has been an increasingly popular research area. The material point method (MPM) is a novel particle-based method combining the advantages of both the Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches, with high potential for application in multiphysics coupling problems. However, compared with other methods, the development of MPM in the field of multiphysics coupling is still inadequate. In order to expands the application of traditional MPM, the proposed multiphysics coupling MPM utilized two sets of material points to discretise the porous medium, also utilized two sets of heat transfer equations to describe heat conduction in the respective fluid and solid, as well as the heat transfer between them. The phase transition was considered using the apparent heat capacity method, and was coupled with other physical fields based on the phase fraction function. The feasibility of the proposed method was verified by comparing with the results of finite element method in five coupling cases. Finally, the proposed method was applied to modelling the frost heave of a rock slope, the distribution of the freezing zone and the mechanism of the frost heaving force were studied.