Abstract
Artificial ground freezing (AGF) is used worldwide for vertical shaft sinking in difficult hydrogeological conditions. The modern tendency is to determine the design parameters of the freezing technique based on numerical simulation. This work is devoted to the numerical simulation of the formation of an ice-soil wall in the soil stratum due to the AGF and shaft sinking under the protection of the wall. For this purpose, a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical model of soil freezing has been developed on the basis of the theory of poromechanics. The developed model considers important features of the freezing process, such as the phase change, pore water migration due to cryogenic suction, frost heave, and consolidation of the soil. The results have shown that the model allows to predict the distribution of ice content, assess stress and strain in the ice-soil wall, and estimate displacement of the excavation wall.
Highlights
In the modern mining industry, construction of vertical mine shafts for elaboration of potash deposits is frequently accompanied by complex geotechnical problems related to groundwater seepage and unstable soft soil stratums
One of the most effective techniques applied worldwide in geotechnical engineering to shaft sinking under hard hydrogeological conditions is artificial ground freezing (AGF) [1]
Determination of the design parameters of an ice-soil wall and cooling regimes requests taking into account the main features of the mechanical behavior of freezing saturated soils
Summary
In the modern mining industry, construction of vertical mine shafts for elaboration of potash deposits is frequently accompanied by complex geotechnical problems related to groundwater seepage and unstable soft soil stratums. Another important feature of the mechanical behavior of the soil during artificial freezing is a change of the stress and strain fields due to the frost heave and consolidation [7]. A specific feature of the models by Zhou & Li, Lay et al is accurate simulation of the evolution of porosity, distribution of the equivalent water content, deformation of soil, and changes in the pore pressure during the process of freezing These models can be applied only to study one-dimensional problems.
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