Numerical Modeling of Artificial Ground Freezing: Multiphase Modeling and Strength Upscaling

Abstract

In geotechnical applications of artificial ground freezing, safe design and execution require a correct prediction of the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of soils subjected to freezing. In the context of thermo-poro-plasticity (Coussy, 2005), a three-phase finite element model of freezing soils is presented: (1) considering solid particles, liquid water and crystal ice as separate phases; and (2) mixture temperature, liquid pressure, and solid displacement as primary field variables. Through three fundamental physical laws (overall entropy balance, mass balance of liquid water and crystal ice, and overall momentum balance) and corresponding state relations, the model captures the most relevant couplings between the phase transition, the liquid transport within the pores, and the accompanying mechanical deformation. Particularly for the description of the poro-plastic mechanical behavior of the soil model, the enhanced Barcelona Basic Model (Nishimura et al., 2009) is adopted within a unified effective-stress-based framework. The macroscopic strength criterion of the freezing soil composite is improved through multi-scale strength homogenization based upon the linear comparison composite method (Ortega et al. 2011). The performance of the proposed model is demonstrated by re-analysis of a soil freezing test and artificial ground freezing (AGF) processes during tunneling.