NUST MISIS, Moscow, Russia:

P. V. Nikolaev, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, pvnikolaev@misis.ru

Underground construction in cities is often carried out in complex hydrogeological conditions. The construction safety and protection of underground openings from groundwater influxes requires special methods to be used. One of such methods is artificial ground freezing. This method consists in enveloping a future underground opening with a system of vertical or inclined freeze pipes installed in drillholes. When it is necessary to construct a thin frozen wall, or to perform high-intensity freezing with a view to emergency response, it is effective to carry out brineless ground freezing using solid freezing agents. Wide-scale application of this method in underground construction is prevented by the lack of theoretical calculation techniques capable to determine the basic process parameters with regard to the properties of rock mass. This study analyzes theoretical relations which allow assessment of the frozen wall growth dynamics in artificial ground freezing with a single freeze pipe and prediction of the freezing agent amount sufficient for the frozen wall formation. The validity of the presented relations is proved by way of comparing the theoretical results with the finite element modeling performed for typical geological conditions of artificial ground freezing. The presented relations can be used to determine process parameters for creation of an impermeable frozen wall using a group of freeze pipes.

1. Shuplik M. N. Development and justification of resource-saving technologies for soil freezing in underground urban construction : Dissertation … of Doctor of Engineering Sciences. Moscow, 1989. 325 p.
2. Taranenko I. N., Nikiforov K. P., Kiselev V. N., Deplani E. A. Application of artificial ground freezing in construction of cross passages between Serebryany Bor tunnels. Metro i tonneli. 2008. No. 2. pp. 20–23.
3. Nikolaev P. V. Experience and prospects of resource technologies freezing soils in the urban underground construction. GIAB. 2014. No. 2. pp. 367–371.
4. Shuplik M., Nikolaev P. Advanced ground freezing method and its applications in underground construction. Geotechnical Construction of Civil Engineering & Transport Structures of the Asian-Pacific Region : International Geotechnical Symposium. 2018. MATEC Web of Conferences. 2019. Vol. 265. 04021. DOI: 10.1051/matecconf/201926504021
5. Nikolaev P., Shuplik M. Low-temperature ground freezing methods for underground construction in urban areas. Geotechnical Construction of Civil Engineering & Transport Structures of the Asian-Pacific Region : International Geotechnical Symposium. 2018. MATEC Web of Conferences. 2019. Vol. 265. 04020. DOI: 10.1051/matecconf/201926504020
6. Pleshko M. S., Pleshko M. V., Voynov I. V., Kostyukhov A. V. Stress state analysis of two-way tunnel lining at different stages of soil defrostation. GIAB. 2019. No. 10. pp. 160–171.
7. Semin M. A., Levin L. Yu., Pugin A. V. Analysis of Earth’s Heat Flow in Artificial Ground Freezing. Journal of Mining Science. 2020. Vol. 56, No. 1. pp. 149–158.
8. Nikolaev P. V. Justification of ground freezing technology parameters using solid carbon dioxide in underground construction : Dissertation … of Candidate of Engineering Sciences. Moscow, 2016. 152 p.
9. Zhelnin M. S., Kostina A. A., Panteleev I. A., Plekhov O. A., Levin L. Yu. Thermo-hydro-mechanical model of frozen wall construction. Proceedings of XII All-Russian Conference on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. Ufa, 2019. pp. 636–638.
10. Semin M. A. Frozen wall survey around mine shafts by numerical solution of a 2D Darcy–Stefan problem. Gornoe ekho. 2019. No. 1(74). pp. 78–83.
11. Levin L. Yu., Semin M. A., Bogomyagkov A. V., Parshakov O. S. The application of “Frozen Wall” software in simulation of artificial ground freezing. Izvestiya Tulskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Nauki o Zemle. 2019. No. 4. pp. 269–282.
12. Dubinin A. M., Osminkina A. S. Experimental investigation and modeling of wet ground freezing. Kholodilnaya tekhnika. 2019. No. 11. pp. 46–49.
13. Harris J. S. Ground Freezing in Practice. London : Thomas Telford, 1995. 264 p.
14. Trupak N. G. Ground freezing in underground construction. Moscow : Nedra, 1974. 280 p.
15. Vitel M., Rouabhi A., Tijani M., Guérin F. Thermo-hydraulic modeling of artificial ground freezing: Application to an underground mine in fractured sandstone. Computers and Geotechnics. 2016. Vol. 75. pp. 80–92.
16. Korolev I. O. Justification of ground freezing parameters with irregularly arranged freeze pipes : Dissertation … of Candidate of Engineering Sciences. Moscow, 1987. 149 p.
17. Lunardini V. J., Varotta R. Approximate Solution to Neumann Problem for Soil Systems. Journal of Energy Resources Technology. 1981. Vol. 103, No. 1. pp. 76–81.
18. Shuplik M. N., Vakulenko I. S. Features of frozen wall formation after cooling agent delivery termination in freezing pipes. GIAB. 2019. No. 5. pp. 44–50.
19. Ting Li, Yang Zhou, Xiang-you Shi, Xiao-xue Hu, Guo-qing Zhou. Analytical solution for the soil freezing process induced by an infinite line sink. International Journal of Thermal Sciences. 2018. Vol. 127. pp. 232–241.
20. Yang Zhou, Xiao-xue Hu, Ting Li, Dong-hai Zhang, Guo-qing Zhou. Similarity type of general solution for one-dimensional heat conduction in the cylindrical coordinate. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2018. Vol. 119. pp. 542–550.
21. Haibing Cai, Liuxun Xu, Yugui Yang, Longqi Li. Analytical solution and numerical simulation of the liquid nitrogen freezing-temperature field of a single pipe. AIP Advances. 2018. Vol. 8, Iss. 5. 055119. DOI: 10.1063/1.5030442
22. Minghan Xu, Saad Akhtar, Zueter A. F., Auger V., Mahmoud A. Alzoubi et al. Development of Analytical Solution for a Two-Phase Stefan Problem in Artificial Ground Freezing Using Singular Perturbation Theory. Journal of Heat Transfer. 2020. Vol. 142, Iss. 12. 122401. DOI: 10.1115/1.4048137
23. Isachenko V. P., Osipova V. A., Sukomel A. S. Heat transfer. 3^rd enlarged and revised edition. Moscow : Energiya, 1975. 486 p.
24. Rui Hu, Quan Liu, Yixuan Xing. Case Study of Heat Transfer during Artificial Ground Freezing with Groundwater Flow. Water. 2018. Vol. 10, Iss. 10. 1322. DOI: 10.3390/w10101322
25. Rui Hu, Quan Liu. Simulation of Heat Transfer during Artificial Ground Freezing Combined with Groundwater Flow. Proceedings of the 2016 COMSOL Conference. Munich, 2016.
26. Shibing Huang, Yunlin Guo, Yanzhang Liu, Lihua Ke, Guofeng Liu et al. Study on the influence of water flow on temperature around freeze pipes and its distribution optimization during artificial ground freezing. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2018. Vol. 135. pp. 435–445.
27. Pimentel E., Sres A., Anagnostou G. Modelling of ground freezing in tunnelling. Underground Space – The 4^th Dimension of Metropolises. London : Taylor & Francis Group, 2007. Vol. 1. pp. 331–336.