• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.401-412
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• 2016

It is extremely difficult to apply conventional grouting methods to subsea tunnelling construction in the high water pressure condition. In such a condition, the rapid artificial freezing method can be an alternative to grouting to form a watertight zone around freezing pipes. For a proper design of the artificial freezing method, the influence of salinity on the freezing process has to be considered. However, there are few domestic tunnel construction that adopted the artificial freezing method, and influential factors on the freezing of the soil are not clearly identified. In this paper, a series of laboratory experiments were performed to identify the physical characteristics of frozen soil. Thermal conductivity of the frozen and unfrozen soil samples was measured through the thermal sensor adopting transient hot-wire method. Moreover, a lab-scale freezing chamber was devised to simulate freezing process of silica sand with consideration of the salinity of pore-water. The temperature in the silica sand sample was measured during the freezing process to evaluate the effect of pore-water salinity on the frozen rate that is one of the key parameters in designing the artificial freezing method in subsea tunnelling. In case of unfrozen soil, the soil samples saturated with fresh water (salinity of 0%) and brine water (salinity of 3.5%) showed a similar value of thermal conductivity. However, the frozen soil sample saturated with brine water led to the thermal conductivity notably higher than that of fresh water, which corresponds to the fact that the freezing rate of brine water was greater than that of fresh water in the freezing chamber test.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2003

Numerical and experimental studies were conducted on the temperature distribution of a buried steel pipe and surrounding granite frozen soils in the closed system. The relationship between unfrozen water content and temperatures was analysed by laboratory test. The thermal conductivity measurements were made to compare the results with a formula presented by Lachenbruch. A steel container model that consists of a freezing chamber and a buried circular steel pipe was built for the laboratory temperature measurements. The time temperature records were measured experimentally, and those records were compared with numerical results obtained from FEM analysis in order to verify the feasibility. The latent heat effect on the granite frozen soils in the numerical study was considered.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.255-268
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• 2018

Subsea tunnel can be highly vulnerable to seawater intrusion due to unexpected high-water pressure during construction. An artificial ground freezing (AGF) will be a promising alternative to conventional reinforcement or water-tightening technology under high-water pressure conditions. In this study, the freezing energy and required time was calculated by the theoretical model of the heat flow to estimate the total amount of refrigerant required for the artificial ground freezing. A lab-scale freezing chamber was devised to investigate changes in the thermal and mechanical properties of sandy soil corresponding to the variation of the salinity and water pressure. The freezing time was measured with different conditions during the chamber freezing tests. Its validity was evaluated by comparing the results between the freezing chamber experiment and the numerical analysis. In particular, the freezing time showed no significant difference between the theoretical model and the numerical analysis. The amount of refrigerant for artificial ground freezing was estimated from the numerical analysis and the freezing efficiency obtained from the chamber test. In addition, the energy ratio for maintaining frozen status was calculated by the proposed formula. It is believed that the energy ratio for freezing will depend on the depth of rock cover in the subsea tunnels and the water temperature on the sea floor.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.51-60
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• 2012

In order to characterize the shear strength of the frozen sand for foundation design in cold region and prediction of adfreeze bond strength, many researchers developed test techniques and carried out many tests to analyze shear strength properties of the frozen sand for half a century. However, many studies for shear strength properties of the frozen sand have been carried out with limited circumstances, even though shear strength of the froze sand can be affected by various influence factors such as soil type, temperature conditions, and magnitude of normal stress. In this study, direct shear test equipment was used to analyze the shear strength characteristics of the frozen sand. Direct shear test equipment was designed for cold weather, and the direct shear tests were carried out inside of large-scaled low temperature chamber. Three soil types-two uniform sands and one well graded soil were used to analyze the shear strength of the frozen sand with three different temperature conditions and three different vertical confining pressures. In this research, a series of direct shear tests for shear strength of the frozen sand have been conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of effectiveness of the test equipment and low temperature chamber. This research also showed that shear strength of the froze sand increased with decreasing temperature condition, but the influence of vertical confining pressure was insignificant to the shear strength of the frozen sand.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.59-67
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• 2016

The strength of frozen soils is affected by size and shape of particles, and the amount of ice and unfrozen water. The objective of this study is to characterize the unfrozen water content and the unconfined compressive strength of the frozen soils according to the degree of saturations and silt fractions. The specimens are mixtures of sand, silt, and water. The silt fractions (SF), which are the ratio of the silt weight ($W_{silt}$) to the sand weight ($W_{sand}$), are 10% and 30%. In addition, the degrees of the saturation are 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. The specimens are frozen under the temperature of $-10^{\circ}C$ conditions. The uniaxial compression tests are conducted for 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours after freezing to determine proper freezing time. The freezing time of 24 hours is chosen because the unconfined compressive strengths of specimens after 24 hours freezing times are similar to each other. Furthermore, the unfrozen water content is monitored during freezing using the TDR system. The unfrozen water content increases with the increase of the silt fraction and degree of saturation. The unconfined compressive strength of the frozen soils exponentially increases with increasing the degree of saturation. This study shows that the amount of ice has more influence on the strength of the frozen soils than the amount of unfrozen water.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1499-1508
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• 2013

Freeze-thaw tests were performed on gneiss samples collected from Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica in order to examine the engineering properties of rocks with slightly weathered (SW) and moderately weathered (MW). The tests were conducted under temperature ranging from $20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ to $-20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. A cycle of test consisted of 5 hours of freezing followed by another 5 hours of thawing under full saturation. In this paper, total 200 cycles of freeze-thaw test were performed with measurements of porosity, absorption, ultrasonic velocity, and shore hardness per each 20 cycle and that of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) per each 50 cycle. The UCS of the SW rocks approximately decreased 0.07 MPa per a single cycle, while that of MW rocks decreased around 0.2 MPa per a single cycle. During the 200 cycles of SW rocks, the absorption increased from 0.23% to 0.39%, the P-wave velocity decreased from 4,054 m/s to 3,227 m/s and S-wave velocity decreased from 2,519 m/s to 2,079 m/s. Similarly, those of MW rocks changed from 0.65% to 1.6%, 3,207 m/s to 2,133 m/s and 2,028 m/s to 1,357 m/s. In conclusion, it was inferred that the properties of SW rocks experienced approximately 200-300 cycles of freeze-thaw process become close to those of MW rocks.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.35-40
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• 2017

The rearside of concrete lining of tunnels constructed in cold region might experience on freezing due to the low temperature. This causes damage of concrete lining resulting in adverse affect on the durability as well as integrity of tunnel structure by causing damage to the concrete lining. In order to prevent the rearside of tunnel lining from freeing, the temperature change inside the concrete lining was measured by attaching a heating element to the tunnel lining surface and generating heat for a certain period of time. A special freezing chamber was developed to conduct the experiments considering in-situ environment. The carbone nanotube (CNT) was used as a heating element in this study. The temperature distribution of the concrete lining was measured by applying the heat to the heating element. The effect of the outside temperature and heating duration were analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.5-14
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• 2017

Experimental study on strength characteristics of frozen soils is necessary for the safety evaluation of design and construction in cold region. The objective of this study is to evaluate the direct shear strength of frozen soils obtained from traditional system (Type-1), system with roller on the upper shear box (Type-2), and system with fixed upper shear box separated from bottom shear box (Type-3). Specimens mixed with sand, silt, and water are frozen to $-5^{\circ}C$, and then direct shear tests are conducted under the normal stress of 5, 10, 25, and 50 kPa. Experimental results show that the upper shear box of Type-1 touches the bottom shear box due to the rotation of the upper shear box. The shear strength obtained from Type-2 is overestimated because the preventing rotation force is added to shear force. Type-3 may acquire the only strength of the specimen, and shear strain at peak shear strength is similar to that at the beginning of vertical displacement occurrence. In addition, internal friction angle and cohesion at both peak and residual stresses in Type-3 are smaller than those of Type-2. This study shows that high strength specimens including frozen soils can be effectively evaluated using improved shear box system such as Type-3.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.4 s.41
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• pp.401-416
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• 2004

We have collected shale specimens from the Pungam Basin in Kangwon province and investigated change of physical properties by freezing and thawing in water as well as in acidic fluid. The temperature range was $-20{\pm}2^{\circ}C\~15{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. Specimens were frozen for 12 hours and thawed in water for 8 hours. Then, they were saturated in the vacuum chamber for 4 hours to make specimens fully saturated. This procedure was 1 cycle. We have measured absorption, ultrasonic velocity, shore hardness, slake durability and uniaxial compressive strength at every 5th cycles. The physical properties increased or decreased as freezing and thawing cycles increased. Uniaxial compressive strength decreased by 0.40MPa per cycle in water and by 0.48MPa in acidic fluid. Elastic constant also decreased by 0.21GPa per cycle in water and by 0.30GPa in acidic fluid. Absorption increased by $0.29\%$ and $0.37\%$ per cycle in water and acidic fluid, respectively. These results indicate that decrease in uniaxial compressive strength, elastic constant and absorption by freezing and thawing in acidic fluid is more rapid than in water. Ultrasonic velocities, shore hardness and slake durability show no differences in water and acidic fluid. When we compared our results with the temperatures in the Hongchon during the winter season, $6\~12$ cycles may be equivalent to 1 year.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.261-272
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• 2009

An experimental study of the accelerated weathering was performed to investigate the variations of physicomechanical properties of deteriorated rocks due to freeze-thaw weathering for the Jurassic granite specimens from Wonju, Gangwon-do. Each complete cycle of freeze and thaw was lasted 24 hours, comprising 2 hours saturating in vacuum chamber, 8 hours freezing at -20$\pm1^{\circ}C$ and 14 hours thawing at room temperature. Freeze-thaw cycles were implemented with measuring the index physical properties as well as geometries of microfractures. The seismic velocity was found to decrease with increasing freeze-thaw cycles. On the other hand, absorption tends to increase with freeze-thaw cycles. In the end, it was concluded that variations of the index properties of deteriorated specimen depend on its initial properties and flaws in rock. The size and density of the traces of the microfracture on slab specimen were changed continuously with increasing freeze-thaw weathering. The results obtained in this study show that the box fractal dimension($D_B$) has the strong capability of quantifying the combined effect of size and density of the microfractures.