• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.205-214
• /
• 2024

Permafrost refers to the condition where the ground is frozen. It is crucial to review and evaluate the ground's characteristics before construction. In this study, electrical resistivity surveying is chosen as the investigative technique to apply and illustrate the results on the state of permafrost ground and to summarize its applicability. Field experiments are conducted in the Yeoncheon area of South Korea, which has a freezing index of 522.6°C·days. The target area is categorized into two ground conditions: the first where the original ground freezes, and the second involves excavating the original ground up to a depth of 3 meters, backfilling it, and then artificially injecting fluid. Thus, frozen ground conditions are simulated under both natural and artificial circumstances. Electrical resistivity surveys are performed under both above-freezing and sub-zero temperature conditions, with the experiments conducted at sub-zero temperatures revealing relatively more high-resistivity zones due to the temperature conditions. In this area, the distribution of soil moisture content is also investigated using the Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technique. It is observed that the ground into which water is artificially injected had a relatively higher moisture content, although the difference is minor. Finally, a 3D map of the target ground is constructed based on the measured electrical resistivity values, and through this, the distribution of porosity, a crucial design parameter, is also depicted. This research demonstrates that the electrical resistivity technique can effectively evaluate the state of frozen and unfrozen ground and further suggests that it can detailed extract the characteristics of the target ground.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.45-56
• /
• 2014

Frozen ground in cold region consists of an upper active layer and lower permafrost which is permanently frozen land. During the summer season, the air temperature is high enough to make the frozen ground melt, which causes the reduction of soil strength and thaw settlement. These phenomena result in structural instability, so it is necessary to apply frozen ground stability techniques. Thermosyphon is a closed natural two-phase convection device to maintain the ground temperature below $0^{\circ}C$ by extracting heat from the ground and discharges it into the atmosphere. Experimental and numerical investigation has been performed to estimate the effect of the refrigerant filling ratio in thermosyphon using R-134a refrigerant and the thermal conductance of the thermosyphon.

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

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of IIIuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.324-327
• /
• 2009

This paper presents the transient impedance in a discharge region when high voltage lightning impulse is applied to small-sized ground electrodes in frozen soil. For a realistic analysis of ionization characteristics near the ground electrode in the soil, ground rod installed outdoors and high voltage impulse voltage generator were used. From the analysis of response voltage and current flowing ground electrode to earth, it was verified that the ionization near the ground electrode contributes to reduction of ground impedance and limits the ground potential rise effectively under high impulse voltage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2010.09a
• /
• pp.546-552
• /
• 2010

Seasonal frozen ground affects structural behavior in South Korea. Frost and heaving of seasonal frozen ground results in the critical damage of roadway, railroad, and buried pipeline. It has been widely used to substitute frost susceptible soils with granular soils. This paper presents experimental investigation on the effectiveness of soil-shredded tire and soil-expanded polystylene (EPS) mixtures to reduce frost depth and force around a buried pipeline. Experimental data such as measured temperature profile and the deformation of buried pipeline were carefully observed and provide the evidence of the effectiveness of soil mixtures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.225-245
• /
• 2016

Settlement of foundations in permafrost regions primarily results from three physical and mechanical processes such as thaw consolidation of permafrost layer, creep of warm frozen soils and the additional deformation of seasonal active layer induced by freeze-thaw cycling. This paper firstly establishes theoretical models for the three sources of settlement including a statistical damage model for soils which experience cyclic freeze-thaw, a large strain thaw consolidation theory incorporating a modified Richards' equation and a Drucker-Prager yield criterion, as well as a simple rheological element based creep model for frozen soils. A novel numerical method was proposed for live computation of thaw consolidation, creep and freeze-thaw cycling in corresponding domains which vary with heat budget in frozen ground. It was then numerically implemented in the FISH language on the FLAC platform and verified by freeze-thaw tests on sandy clay. Results indicate that the calculated results agree well with the measured data. Finally a model test carried out on a half embankment in laboratory was modeled.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.339-348
• /
• 2020

The uncertain geotechnical properties of frozen soil are important evidence for the design, operation and maintenance of the frozen ground. The complex geological, environmental and physical effects can lead to the spatial variations of the frozen soil, and the uncertain mechanical properties are the key factors for the uncertain analysis of frozen soil engineering. In this study, the elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio of warm frozen soil were measured, and the statistical characteristics under different temperature conditions are obtained. The autocorrelation distance (ACD) and autocorrelation function (ACF) of uncertain mechanical properties are estimated by random field (RF) method. The results show that the mean elastic modulus and mean strength decrease with the increase of temperature while the mean Poisson ratio increases with the increase of temperature. The average values of the ACD for the elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio are 0.64m, 0.53m and 0.48m, respectively. The standard deviation of the ACD for the elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio are 0.03m, 0.07m and 0.03m, respectively. The ACFs of elastic modulus, strength and Poisson ratio decrease with the increase of ratio of local average distance and scale of fluctuation. The ACF of uncertain mechanical properties is different when the temperature is different. This study can improve our understanding of the spatial autocorrelation variations of uncertain geotechnical properties and provide a basis and reference for the uncertain settlement analysis of frozen soil foundation.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.27-36
• /
• 2014

Due to the latitudinal location of Korea, the seasonally frozen ground has been focused on as research topics such as the frost heaving under the asphalt road rather than the permafrost ground. However, the recent construction of the second Korean Antarctic research station, the Jangbogo station and the participation on the development of the natural gas pipeline in Russia arouse the research interests on the behavior of the permafrost ground. At the design process of the geotechnical structures on the permafrost ground, the evaluation of the creep characteristics of the frozen soil is very crucial. Since the domestic specification on the frozen soil testing does not exist currently, it is necessary to evaluate the creep characteristics of frozen soils systematically with regard to the affecting factors. Therefore, the creep characteristics of the frozen specimens of dense Jumoonjin sand were evaluated under various loads at -5 and $-10^{\circ}C$. Based on the test results, as the load became close to the strength and the temperature became lower, the duration of the secondary creep became shorter and more distinct tertiary creep responses were observed.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.42-48
• /
• 1990

Experiments were conducted to investigate the soil freezing depth and pattern with freezing measuring instruments during 1988-l989 winter season in Kangwon province. Freezing measuring instrument was made with acrylic pipes which were consisted of inner and outer parts. Inner pipe was filled with 0.01 % methylene blue solution and rubber hose to protect pipe breakdown by solution freezing. Freezing measurements were carried out by observing discoloration of methylene blue solution. Moisture content of evergreen trees and ground cover plants was also examined in the winter season. The observed results are as follows: 1.In the land of I OOM above sea level, soil freezing depth became deeper as the sum of Accumulated degree-days of temperature below 0˚C(0˚C . day) increased: Soil freezing depth was 30-40cm at l00˚C, 42-43cm at 150˚C, and 47cm at 200˚C day 2.Soil freezing with vinyl mulching was less developed by l3cm at l00˚C with sum of subzero temperature, by l7cm at 200˚C than that of the bare ground. Soil of rich hulls mulching with 4Ocm was not frozen until soil freezing at the bare ground was developed to 25cm depth. 3.Cashmeron mulching was more effective than felt mulching in the heat insulation of soil. 4.Thawing of soil was done from the lowest part of the frozen in the ground to upward in the beginning and after that it was done from the surface of frozen soil to downward. Finally thawing was completed at the middle of frozen soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.85-94
• /
• 2012

Recently, growing interests in frozen ground have stimulated us to advance fundamental theories and systematic researches on soil behavior under freezing conditions. Unlike the well-established soil mechanics theory, temperature variation and phase change of pore-water cause water migration to cold side, ground heaving, sharp increase in earth pressure, etc., which bring about serious problems in frozen geotechnical structures. Elasto-plastic mechanical constitutive model for frozen/unfrozen soil subjected to fully coupled THM phenomena is formulated based on a new stress variable that is continuous in frozen-unfrozen transitional regions. Numerical simulations are conducted to discuss numerical reliability and applicability of the developed constitutive model: one-dimensional heaving pressure, tri-axial compression test, and one-side freezing tests. The numerical results show that developed model can efficiently describe complex THM phenomena of frozen soil, and they can be utilized to analyze and design the geotechnical structures under freezing conditions, and predict their long-term behavior.