Effect of Seepage Stream on Artificial Soil Freezing

Abstract

A numerical technique is presented for predicting the two-dimensional transient temperature distribution in freezing or thawing wet soil. The technique is applied in estimating the influence of seepage stream velocity on an artificial free-draining wet soil by a row of freeze pipes. It is shown that small ground-water flows perpendicular to the vertical axis of a freeze pipe have no significant effect on the rate of growth of the ice boundary in the horizontal direction. In fact, a flow on 0.01 cu ft per hr per sq ft to possibly 0.02 cu ft per hr per sq ft may even enhance the rate of propagation of the ice boundary. Increases in flow above those limits diminishes the rate of growth of the ice boundary quite markedly. At a flow rate of 0.50 cu ft per hr per sq ft, closure of the ice boundary between a row of 6-in freeze pipes with a center-to-center spacing of 8.6 ft will never occur.