• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.555-565
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• 2018

Nowadays, the artificial ground freezing (AGF) method has been used in many geotechnical engineering applications such as temporary excavation support, underpinning, and groundwater cutoff. The AGF method conducts the freezing process by employing a refrigerant circulating through a set of embedded freezing pipes to form frozen walls serving as an excavation support and cutoff wall. Two refrigerants of brine with the freezing temperature of $-20{\sim}-40^{\circ}C$ and liquid nitrogen with the freezing (evaporating) temperature of $-196^{\circ}C$ are commonly being used in geotechnical applications. This paper performed a series of field experiments to evaluate the freezing rate of marine clay in application of the AGF method. The field experiments consisted of the single freezing-pipe test and the frozen-wall formation test by circulating liquid nitrogen, which is a cryogenic refrigerant, into freezing pipes constructed at a depth of 3.2 m in the ground. The temperature of discharged liquid nitrogen was maintained through the automatic valve, and the temperature change induced by AGF method was measured at the freezing pipes and in the ground with time. According to the experimental results, the single freezing-pipe test consumed about 11.9 tons of liquid nitrogen for 3.5 days to form a cylindrical frozen body with the volume of about $2.12m^3$. In addition, the frozen-wall formation test used about 18 tons of liquid nitrogen for 4.1 days to form a frozen wall with the volume of about $7.04m^3$. The radial freezing rate decreased with increasing the radius of frozen body because the frozen area at a certain depth is proportional to the square of the radius. The radial freezing rate was formulated as a simple equation.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.29-34
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to prevent spreading of contaminants from movement of underground water by creating a barrier using artificial freezing method on a soil contaminated by oils and various DNAPLs. Specimens with 80% and 90% degrees of saturation were prepared to form freezing barrier using artificial freezing method. As the results of freezing specimen within soil bin with artificial ground freezing system, artificial contaminated soil cut off wall formed the thinnest wall after 12 hours. It is judged that this cut off wall will control the second soil pollution by intercepting expansion and movement of pollutants and DNAPLs within artificial contaminated soil cut off wall by underground water, intercepting inflow or outflow of underground water. Cut off walls formed by artificial ground freezing system had each other freezing speed according to degree of saturation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.17-25
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• 2020

The artificial ground freezing method is a ground amelioration technology that does not have a permanent effect on the ground. One of the key factors that determine the efficiency and design criteria of the artificial ground freezing is the groundwater flow. Therefore, in order to accurately evaluate the behavior of the artificial ground freezing, studies on the effect of water flow on the formation of ice walls must be preceded. In this paper, experimental and numerical analyses were conducted using only pure water to maximize the effect of water flow on the formation of ice walls. A hydro-thermal coupled model for freezing behavior was proposed and the accuracy of the model was verified. Through the numerical and experimental studies, the flow rate dominates not only the formation time but also the shape of the ice wall. In addition, this study proposes a method to indirectly predict the ice wall formation time, which is expected to be highly useful for a practical application where it is difficult to visually identify ice walls.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.31-48
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• 2019

The artificial ground freezing (AGF) method is a groundwater cutoff and/or ground reinforcement method suitable for constructing underground structures in soft ground and urban areas. The AGF method conducts a freezing process by employing a refrigerant circulating through a set of embedded freezing pipes to form frozen walls serving as excavation supports and/or cutoff walls. However, thermal expansion of the pore water during freezing may cause excessive deformation of the ground. On the other hand, as the frozen soil is thawed after completion of the construction, mechanical characteristics of the thawed soil are changed due to the plastic deformation of the ground and the rearrangement of soil fabric. This paper performed a field experiment to evaluate the freezing rate of marine clay in the application of the AGF method. The field experiment was carried out by circulating liquid nitrogen, which is a cryogenic refrigerant, through one freezing pipe installed at a depth of 3.2 m in the ground. Also, a piezo-cone penetration test (CPTu) and a lateral load test (LLT) were performed on the marine clay before and after application of the AGF method to evaluate a change in strength and stiffness of it, which was induced by freezing-thawing. The experimental results indicate that about 11.9 tons of liquid nitrogen were consumed for 3.5 days to form a cylindrical frozen body with a volume of about $2.12m^3$. In addition, the strength and stiffness of the ground were reduced by 48.5% and 22.7%, respectively, after a freezing-thawing cycle.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.35-44
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to prevent spreading of contaminants from movement of underground water by creating a barrier using artificial freezing method on a soil contaminated by oils and various NAPLs. Specimens with 80% and 90% degrees of saturation were prepared to form freezing barrier using artificial freezing method. With increasing freezing time of freezing barrier, barrier was formed faster in the specimen with 90% degree of saturation by about an hour compared to the specimen with 80% degree of saturation. In addition, thinnest thickness of frozen barrier in both specimens was 50mm after 12 hours of freezing time, showing expansion of freezing area with time. The results of this study can be applied to barrier in waste reclamation sites and contaminated regions or to flow control of contaminants.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.433-445
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• 2021

Artificial ground freezing (AGF) is a commonly used geotechnical support technique that can be applied in any soil type and has low environmental impact. Experimental and numerical investigations have been conducted to optimize AGF for application in diverse scenarios. Precise simulation of groundwater flow is crucial to improving the reliability these investigations' results. Previous experimental research has mostly considered horizontal seepage flow, which does not allow accurate calculation of the groundwater flow velocity due to spatial variation of the piezometric head. This study adopted vertical seepage flow-which can maintain a constant cross-sectional area-to eliminate the limitations of using horizontal seepage flow. The closure time is a measure of the time taken for an impermeable layer to begin to form, this being the time for a frozen soil-ice wall to start forming adjacent to the freeze pipes; this is of great importance to applied AGF. This study reports verification of the reliability of our experimental apparatus and measurement system using only water, because temperature data could be measured while freezing was observed visually. Subsequent experimental AFG tests with saturated sandy soil were also performed. From the experimental results, a method of estimating closure time is proposed using the inflection point in the thermal conductivity difference between pore water and pore ice. It is expected that this estimation method will be highly applicable in the field. A further parametric study assessed factors influencing the closure time using a two-dimensional coupled thermo-hydraulic numerical analysis model that can simulate the AGF of saturated sandy soil considering groundwater flow. It shows that the closure time is affected by factors such as hydraulic gradient, unfrozen permeability, particle thermal conductivity, and freezing temperature. Among these factors, changes in the unfrozen permeability and particle thermal conductivity have less effect on the formation of frozen soil-ice walls when the freezing temperature is sufficiently low.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.43-55
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• 2018

AGF (Artificial Ground Freezing) method is a temporary ground improvement method which can apply to all types of soil with the purpose of high stiffness and low hydraulic conductivity. However, the groundwater flow and the heterogeneity of the ground increase the uncertainty of the ice-column formation which hinders the reliability of this method. The effects of groundwater flow and layered heterogeneity on ice-wall integrity by AGF method were analyzed using finite element analysis program for a coupled thermo-hydro phenomena in the freezing ground. Groundwater flow changes circular ice-column into elliptical shapes and increases the time required for the formation of ice walls. The previous theoretical formula overestimated the completion time of the ice wall and the critical groundwater velocity by neglecting the thermal interaction between adjacent ice-columns. Numerical results presented the corrected formula and verified the proposed equation for the dimensionless ice-wall completion time. In the layered heterogeneous ground, the thickness of the layer with higher hydraulic conductivity and its relative magnitude were found to be important factors in the ice-wall completion time and critical velocity.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2002.03a
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• pp.329-336
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• 2002

The earth structures and in-ground LNG tank, and buildings can be constructed with using artificial freezing method on the reclaimed land. In this study, upon freezing a saturated soil in a closed-system from the top, a considerable pressure was developed. The pressure is the result of the surface energy of a curved ice-water interface. The most significant of these parameters will have the greatest effect on the classification. In order to establish frost-susceptibility criteria based on frost heaving expansion pressure, more soils have to be tested. This study was initiated to investigate the soils frost heaving expansion pressure and moisture characteristics resulting from freezing and freezing-thawing cycle process. Weathered granite soils, sandy soil, sandy soil were used in the laboratory freezing test subjected to thermal gradients under closed- systems.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.7-15
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• 2022

Most studies have conducted cryogenic triaxial compression tests with frozen specimens prepared in a separate mold by one-directional freezing. This method has the potential to generate residual stress in a frozen specimen and cannot be adopted to simulate the application of the artificial ground freezing method in the field. Therefore, in this study, novel equipment and procedure for the cryogenic triaxial compression test were proposed to overcome the limitations of existing test methods. Therefore, the mechanical characteristics of frozen sand, considering the effect of temperature and confining pressure, were evaluated. As the freezing temperature decreased, the brittleness of frozen sand increased, and the strength increased due to a decrease in the unfrozen water content and an increase in the ice strength. A higher confining pressure resulted in an increase in interparticle friction and the pressure melting phenomenon, which caused strength reduction. Thus, it was found that the mechanical behaviors of frozen sand were simultaneously affected by both temperature and confining pressure.