Passive Cooling of Permafrost Foundation Soils Using Porous Embankment Structures

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Goering

Abstract Permafrost (permanently frozen ground) underlies approximately 25% of the world’s land surface. Construction of surface facilities in these regions presents unique engineering challenges due to the alteration of the thermal regime at the ground surface. Even moderate disturbance of the pre-existing ground surface energy balance can induce permafrost thawing with consequent settlement and damage to buildings, roadways, or other man-made infrastructure. The present work examines the thermal characteristics of embankments constructed of unconventional, highly porous materials. Using these materials, a passive cooling effect can be achieved due to the unstable density stratification and resulting natural convection that occur during winter months. The convection enhances transport of heat out of the embankment, thus cooling the lower portions of the embankment and underlying foundation soil and preserving the permafrost layer. Numerical results obtained with an unsteady two-dimensional finite element model are compared to experimental measurements taken in full-scale field installations for the cases of open and closed (impermeable) side-slope boundary conditions.

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1117-1145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goutam Mondal ◽  
Amit Prashant ◽  
Sudhir K. Jain

Interaction between a well foundation (caisson) and the surrounding soil during earthquake shaking involves complicated material and interface nonlinearities such as soil inelasticity, separation, sliding, and uplifting. It is often perceived that the interface nonlinearity has appreciable effects on the seismic response of the well foundation. This paper studies soil-well interface behavior during ground shaking and evaluates the significance of interface nonlinearity on the seismic response of the soil-well-pier (SWP) system. Seismic analysis of the soil-well-pier system was performed using the two-dimensional finite element model considering soil and interface nonlinearities, under both full- and partial-embedment conditions of the well foundation. Soil was assumed to be cohesionless and analyzed under both saturated undrained and dry conditions. Results of this model were compared with those of a model with perfectly-bonded interface. The design displacement and force resultants were found to be marginally overestimated and were on the conservative side in absence of nonlinear interface.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 2089-2107
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Yongkang Xue ◽  
Ye Liu

Abstract. Frozen soil processes are of great importance in controlling surface water and energy balances during the cold season and in cold regions. Over recent decades, considerable frozen soil degradation and surface soil warming have been reported over the Tibetan Plateau and North China, but most land surface models have difficulty in capturing the freeze–thaw cycle, and few validations focus on the effects of frozen soil processes on soil thermal characteristics in these regions. This paper addresses these issues by introducing a physically more realistic and computationally more stable and efficient frozen soil module (FSM) into a land surface model – the third-generation Simplified Simple Biosphere Model (SSiB3-FSM). To overcome the difficulties in achieving stable numerical solutions for frozen soil, a new semi-implicit scheme and a physics-based freezing–thawing scheme were applied to solve the governing equations. The performance of this model as well as the effects of frozen soil process on the soil temperature profile and soil thermal characteristics were investigated over the Tibetan Plateau and North China using observation sites from the China Meteorological Administration and models from 1981 to 2005. Results show that the SSiB3 model with the FSM produces a more realistic soil temperature profile and its seasonal variation than that without FSM during the freezing and thawing periods. The freezing process in soil delays the winter cooling, while the thawing process delays the summer warming. The time lag and amplitude damping of temperature become more pronounced with increasing depth. These processes are well simulated in SSiB3-FSM. The freeze–thaw processes could increase the simulated phase lag days and land memory at different soil depths as well as the soil memory change with the soil thickness. Furthermore, compared with observations, SSiB3-FSM produces a realistic change in maximum frozen soil depth at decadal scales. This study shows that the soil thermal characteristics at seasonal to decadal scales over frozen ground can be greatly improved in SSiB3-FSM, and SSiB3-FSM can be used as an effective model for TP and NC simulation during cold season. Overall, this study could help understand the vertical soil thermal characteristics over the frozen ground and provide an important scientific basis for land–atmosphere interactions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Jeong ◽  
K. W. Kim ◽  
H. G. Beom ◽  
J. U. Park

Abstract The effects of variations in stiffness and geometry on the nonuniformity of tires are investigated by using the finite element analysis. In order to evaluate tire uniformity, a three-dimensional finite element model of the tire with imperfections is developed. This paper considers how imperfections, such as variations in stiffness or geometry and run-out, contribute to detrimental effects on tire nonuniformity. It is found that the radial force variation of a tire with imperfections depends strongly on the geometrical variations of the tire.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2225
Author(s):  
Fu Wang ◽  
Guijun Shi ◽  
Wenbo Zhai ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
...  

The steel assembled support structure of a foundation pit can be assembled easily with high strength and recycling value. Steel’s performance is significantly affected by the surrounding temperature due to its temperature sensitivity. Here, a full-scale experiment was conducted to study the influence of temperature on the internal force and deformation of supporting structures, and a three-dimensional finite element model was established for comparative analysis. The test results showed that under the temperature effect, the deformation of the central retaining pile was composed of rigid rotation and flexural deformation, while the adjacent pile of central retaining pile only experienced flexural deformation. The stress on the retaining pile crown changed little, while more stress accumulated at the bottom. Compared with the crown beam and waist beam 2, the stress on waist beam 1 was significantly affected by the temperature and increased by about 0.70 MPa/°C. Meanwhile, the stress of the rigid panel was greatly affected by the temperature, increasing 78% and 82% when the temperature increased by 15 °C on rigid panel 1 and rigid panel 2, respectively. The comparative simulation results indicated that the bending moment and shear strength of pile 1 were markedly affected by the temperature, but pile 2 and pile 3 were basically stable. Lastly, as the temperature varied, waist beam 2 had the largest change in the deflection, followed by waist beam 1; the crown beam experienced the smallest change in the deflection.


2011 ◽  
Vol 368-373 ◽  
pp. 2711-2715 ◽  
Author(s):  
De Yun Ding ◽  
Xiu Ren Yang ◽  
Wei Dong Lu ◽  
Wei Ning Liu ◽  
Mei Yan ◽  
...  

In more and more complicated urban building environment, a new construction method that metro engineering is constructed by large-diameter shield and shallow mining method can be regarded as a great attempt in China. By taking the Gaojiayuan station of Beijing metro line 14 as an engineering background, the main construction steps for the platform of the metro station built by a large-size shield with an outer diameter of 10 m and the Pile-Beam-Arch (PBA) method are introduced. Based on the soil-structure interaction theory, a two-dimensional finite element model is used to simulate the shield tunneling and the platform construction by the PBA method to enlarge the shield tunnel. The ground deformation and structural stress of the platform are predicted. The numerical results can be regarded as a valuable reference for the application of the new construction method in Beijing metro line 14.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4661-4679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Cao ◽  
Xiaojing Quan ◽  
Nicholas Brown ◽  
Emilie Stewart-Jones ◽  
Stephan Gruber

Abstract. Simulations of land-surface processes and phenomena often require driving time series of meteorological variables. Corresponding observations, however, are unavailable in most locations, even more so, when considering the duration, continuity and data quality required. Atmospheric reanalyses provide global coverage of relevant meteorological variables, but their use is largely restricted to grid-based studies. This is because technical challenges limit the ease with which reanalysis data can be applied to models at the site scale. We present the software toolkit GlobSim, which automates the downloading, interpolation and scaling of different reanalyses – currently ERA5, ERA-Interim, JRA-55 and MERRA-2 – to produce meteorological time series for user-defined point locations. The resulting data have consistent structure and units to efficiently support ensemble simulation. The utility of GlobSim is demonstrated using an application in permafrost research. We perform ensemble simulations of ground-surface temperature for 10 terrain types in a remote tundra area in northern Canada and compare the results with observations. Simulation results reproduced seasonal cycles and variation between terrain types well, demonstrating that GlobSim can support efficient land-surface simulations. Ensemble means often yielded better accuracy than individual simulations and ensemble ranges additionally provide indications of uncertainty arising from uncertain input. By improving the usability of reanalyses for research requiring time series of climate variables for point locations, GlobSim can enable a wide range of simulation studies and model evaluations that previously were impeded by technical hurdles in obtaining suitable data.


2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (6) ◽  
pp. 1028-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wang ◽  
Sergio Felicelli

A three-dimensional finite element model was developed to predict the temperature distribution and phase transformation in deposited stainless steel 410 (SS410) during the Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS™) rapid fabrication process. The development of the model was carried out using the SYSWELD software package. The model calculates the evolution of temperature in the part during the fabrication of a SS410 plate. The metallurgical transformations are taken into account using the temperature-dependent material properties and the continuous cooling transformation diagram. The ferritic and martensitic transformation as well as austenitization and tempering of martensite are considered. The influence of processing parameters such as laser power and traverse speed on the phase transformation and the consequent hardness are analyzed. The potential presence of porosity due to lack of fusion is also discussed. The results show that the temperature distribution, the microstructure, and hardness in the final part depend significantly on the processing parameters.


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