• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.109-121
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• 2012

Rock-surface temperatures were observed at a trachytic lava dome, called as Baeknokdam Northwest Face, in the summit area of Mt. Halla, Jeju Island, to examine the frequency and occurrence season of freeze-thaw cycles and the rate of temperature changes during a freezing period. Long-term measurements were recorded over 18 months from November 2006 to April 2008, at a 1-hour logging interval and rock depth of 1.5 cm. Both diurnal freeze-thaw cycles and effective freeze-thaw cycles appear in larger numbers on a south-facing rock face than a north-facing rock face. The diurnal cycles were dominantly observed on February and March for the south face and on November and April for the north face, respectively. The annual freeze-thaw cycles were confirmed in terms of the presence of seasonal freezing periods lasting from mid-November to mid-April for the south face and from early-November to late-April for the north face, respectively. The rate of decreasing temperatures during the seasonal freezing periods is larger on the north face than the south face. Notwithstanding the lower numbers of freeze-thaw events, the north face experiences a higher frost intensity since the number of hours below $-3^{\circ}C$ is larger on the north face than the south face. The number of freeze-thaw events and the duration of days with continuous sub-zero rock temperatures largely depend on the solar radiation controlled by the aspect of the monitored rock surfaces, and thus the high-frequency short-term frost cycle dominantly appears on the south face and the annual frost cycle on the north face, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.487-490
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• 2011

We used X-ray tomography to carry out an experimental study to visualize the effect of freeze and thaw cycles on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). A PEMFC has freeze and thaw cycles if the fuel cell is operating at a below-freezing ambient temperature. The cycle permanently deforms the fuel-cell capillary structures and reduces the ability of the cell to generate electric power and also reduces its service life. The GDL is the thickest capillary layer in the fuel cell, so it experiences the most deformation. The X-ray tomography facility at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory was used to observe the structural changes in GDLs induced by a freeze and thaw cycle. We discuss the effects of these structural changes on the power production and service life of PEMFCs.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.107-113
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• 2007

This study is to investigate adhesive properties depending on the temperature, humidity, and freeze-thraw of the Steel plate adhesive strengthening method by the epoxy resin. The results are summarized as following. For the temperature variation, the debonding failure appear only after 1 cycle of temperature varoation because the coefficient of thermal expansion of the epoxy resin is comparatively large, and the bonding strength is decreased. The deformation properties and ultrasonic pulse velocity on each materials are similar until 4 cycles on the dry and moisture test. As the freeze-thraw test, the epoxy resin is degraded easily subjected to freeze-thaw cycle, comparatively easy, so the debonding failure may occur in short term because of the freeze-thaw repeatition.p

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

PURPOSES : In order to evaluate a crack resistance at cold joint, sealing tape was adopted to apply at cold joint instead of typical tack coat material(RSC-4). The sealing tape was made by hot sealing material. The crack resistance as function of environmental and traffic loading was measured with visual observation. METHODS : In this study, the crack resistance was evaluated as function of environmental and traffic loading. The freeze-thaw method was adopted for environmental loading of asphalt pavement. condition. The damage of cold joint under freeze-thaw action is initiated by ice expansion load and accelerated by the interfacial damage between new and old asphalt pavement. The traffic loading was applied with wheel tracking machine on the cold joint area of the asphalt pavement for 3 hours at $25^{\circ}C$. The evaluation of crack resistance was measured with visual observation. The freeze-thaw results shows that the sealing tape was significantly increased the crack resistance based on. RESULTS : To estimate the crack resistance at cold joint area due to the environmental loading, the Freeze-thaw test was conducted by exposing the product to freezing temperature(approximately $-18^{\circ}C$) for 24 hours, and then allowing it to thaw at $60^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours. The tack coat material(RSC-4) was debonded after 21 cycles of the Freeze-thaw test. The first crack was observed after 14 freeze-thaw cycle with RSC-4 material. But, the sealing tape was not debonded after 24 cycle test. Also, the sealing tape shows the better performance of the crack resistance under the traffic loading with wheel track test. The crack was generated the under traffic loading with RSC-4(tack coating), however, the crack was not shown with sealing tape. It indicates that the sealing tape has a strong resistance of tensile stress due to traffic loading. CONCLUSIONS :Based on limited laboratory test result, a performance of crack resistance using the sealing tape is better than that of general tack coat material(RSC-4). It means that the sealing tape is possible to extend a pavement service life because the crack, one of the main pavement distresses, will be delayed.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2008

The initiation and growth processes of cyclic ice body in porous systems are affected by the thermo-physical and mass transport properties, as well as gradients of temperature and chemical potentials. Furthermore, the diffusivity of deicing chemicals shows significantly higher value under cyclic freeze-thaw conditions. Consequently, the disintegration of concrete structures is aggravated at marine environments, higher altitudes, and northern areas. However, the properties of cyclic freeze-thaw with crack growth and the deterioration by the accumulated damages are hard to identify in tests. In order to predict the accumulated damages by cyclic freeze-thaw, a regression analysis by the response surface method (RSM) is used. The important parameters for cyclic freeze-thawdeterioration of concrete structures, such as water to cement ratio, entrained air pores, and the number of cycles of freezing and thawing, are used to compose the limit state function. The regression equation fitted to the important deterioration criteria, such as accumulated plastic deformation, relative dynamic modulus, or equivalent plastic deformations, were used as the probabilistic evaluations of performance for the degraded structural resistance. The predicted results of relative dynamic modulus and residual strains after 300 cycles of freeze-thaw show very good agreements with the experimental results. The RSM result can be used to predict the probability of occurrence for designer specified critical values. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate the life cycle management of concrete structures considering the accumulated damages due to the cyclic freeze-thaw using the proposed prediction method.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.399-407
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• 2010

The flexural behaviors of two types of beam members exposed to freeze-thaw cycles were evaluated. This study aims to examine the effect of freeze-thaw cycles on the behavior characteristics of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. For the purpose, a part of the beam specimens were damaged until yielding of tension reinforcement was reached, before they were exposed to 150 and 300 cycles of freeze-thaw. Cyclic tests, as well as monotonic tests, were conducted to evaluate the stiffness degradation characteristics when same cycle is repeated. The material tests showed that relative dynamic modulus of concrete exposed to 300 cycles of freeze-thaw moderately decreased to 86.8% of normal concrete, indicating that concrete used in this study has good durability against freeze and thaw damage. The results of monotonic tests showed reduction of flexural strength, ductility and stiffness of the beam specimens exposed to freeze-thaw cycles compared with those of the control speciments. In particular, BDF13 specimens, which had been subjected to artificial cracking damage, did not showed enough flexural strength to satisfy nominal moment required by current concrete structure design code. In the monotonic tests results, BF75 specimens exposed to freeze-thaw cycles showed 10% or more cyclic stiffness degradation. Therefore, it was thought that deformation of concrete in compression have to be considered in design process of members under cyclic load, such as seismic device.

• 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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.146-157
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• 2009

An experimental study of accelerated weathering on mudstone sample specimens from Haman, Gyeongnam was performed to investigate the variations of physico-mechanical properties of deteriorated rocks due to freeze-thaw weathering. Each complete cycle of freeze and thaw lasted 24 hours, comprising 2 hours of saturating in vacuum chamber, 8 hours of freezing at $-16{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ and 14 hours of thawing at room temperature. Total of 55 cycles of freeze-thaw were completed with measuring the index properties as well as geometries of microfractures. The measured specific gravity and P-wave velocity found to decrease with increasing freeze-thaw cycles. On the other hand, absorption ratio and effective porosity were continuously increased with increasing freeze-thaw cycles. It was found that the index properties of deteriorated sample specimen depend on its initial properties and flaws in rock. The size and density of the traces of the microfracture on slab specimen exhibited abrupt changes after 30 cycles of freeze-thaw weathering. The results obtained in this study show that the box fractal dimension($D_B$) given in this paper has the strong capability of quantifying the size and density of the microfracture.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.438-444
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• 2019

In this study, the effect of polypropylene fiber on the freeze-thaw damage of mortar was evaluated experimentally. The effects of the reinforcing of polypropylene fiber on the compressive and bending performance of mortar after 300 cycles of freeze-thaw test were evaluated by comparing the normal mortar and the mortar with polyvinyl alcohol fiber. In addition, the mass loss, relative dynamic elastic modulus, and cumulated pore volume of mortar were measured by each cycle of freeze-thaw test. As a result, it was confirmed that the fiber reinforced mortar, regardless of the fiber type, was effective not only in maintaining the performance of the compressive strength and the bending strength but also suppressing the mass loss after the freeze-thaw test of 300 cycles. Meanwhile, it was confirmed that not only polyvinyl alcohol fibers but also polypropylene fibers can effectively act to suppress the damage of the mortar by freeze-thaw. However, in order to improve the freeze-thaw resistance of mortar mixed with polypropylene fiber, it is necessary to increase the bonding performance with the cement matrix which can be expected from polyvinyl alcohol fiber.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.46-49
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• 2007

This paper describes the sensitive cooling performance change of J-T refrigerator for cryosurgical probe due to its working fluid. The analytical results of using 50 bar nitrous oxide are compared with the case of 300 bar argon. Bio-heat equation is numerically solved to investigate the effect of the probe temperature and the cooling power of the J-T refrigerator. The refrigerator using 50 bar nitrous oxide has larger cooling power above 185 K than the one with 300 bar argon, which enables fast cooling at early stage of cryosurgery, but the biological tissue away from the probe tends to be cooled slowly after the probe reaches its lowest operating temperature. When the repeated freeze-thaw cycle is employed for main tissue destruction mechanism, using high pressure nitrous oxide is more advantageous than argon if the freezing operation is within 2-3 minutes. The probe with high pressure argon is more suitable for the case of longer freeze-thaw cycle with fewer repetitions.