Engineering Geology, 18 (1981) 189--201

189

Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands

THERMAL DESIGN OF ARTIFICIAL SOIL FREEZING SYSTEMS

P.E. FRIVIK and E. THORBERGSEN

Division of Refrigeration Engineering, The Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim

(Norway)
(Accepted for publication July 9, 1981)

ABSTRACT
Frivik, P.E. and Thorbergsen, E., 1981. Thermal design of artificial soil freezing systems.
Eng. Geol., 18: 189--201.
Appropriate thermal design of an artificial soil freezing system should include the linking between the performance of the refrigeration system and the thermal regime in the
soil, as well as the influence of variable thermal properties and complicated geometries.
The paper presents design systems, based on computer programs, where these features
are demonstrated. The refrigeration capacity is given as a boundary condition at the
freezing pipe, either as temperature or flux.
Two programs are discussed; a one-dimensional (l-D), finite difference program for the
analysis of a single pipe, and a two-dimensional (2-D), finite element code, with seepage
flow as an option, more suited for real problems.
The programs are used to display the influence of various design parameters, such as
refrigeration capacities, material properties and geometries.
A comparison is made between the 2-D program and a simplified method developed by
K.R. Khakimov, which shows that the simplified method gives a very conservative estimate
of the frozen volume vs. elapsed time.
Finally, the 2-D program computing combined heat and seepage flow is applied to a
laboratory model of a soil freezing system, and the agreement between measured and
computed values of temperature and water flow is shown to be acceptable.
INTRODUCTION

The basic design problem in artificial soil freezing is of mechanical nature,

dealing with the effective strength of the frozen ground. However, an analysis
predicting the size and temperature distribution of the frozen volume must'
be the initial step, due to the strong temperature influence on strength and
creep properties.
In general, thermal design covers a wide range of subjects, such as size and
arrangement of freeze pipes, optimum design of the refrigeration plant, calculations of elapsed time for freezing and thawing, as well as energy or LN2
consumption. An important and difficult part of the problem is to link the
performance of the refrigeration system to the thermal regime of the soil
volume to be frozen.

0013--7952/81/0000--0000/$02.50 1981 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company

190
Traditionally, thermal design has been performed by analytical methods of
Stefan or Neumann type, amongst many described by Carslaw and Jaeger
(1959), Staender (1967) and Harlan and Nixon (1978). A more elaborate
model of semi-empirical nature was presented by Khakimov (1957) and
refined by Sanger (1968) and Sanger and Sayles (1978). Although these
methods can provide approximate values for the amount of energy and duration of time necessary to complete freezing, they are inadequate for complex
geometries and time- or temperature-dependent properties and boundary
conditions.
In contrast, computer codes based on finite difference (FDM) and finite
element (FEM) methods have been available for 15--20 years, which solve
the basic differential equations for heat transfer with realistic geometries,
material properties and boundary conditions. The rapid increase of computer
performance vs. price has greatly enhanced the development in this field, and
at present a wide range of thermal problems are successfully modelled, as
reported in Lewis and Morgan (1979).
The intention of this paper is to demonstrate the power of FDM and FEM
programs to solve problems related to thermal design of artificial soil freezing
systems.
PROGRAMS AND NUMERICAL METHODS
At present, four programs are available at the Division of Refrigeration
Engineering (DRE) for the numerical solution of phase change problems. A
detailed description of the numerical methods and programs is b e y o n d the
scope of this paper, but a brief description is given in Table I. For further
information the reader is referred to the references. C o m m o n features of all
programs are: (a) subdivision in regions with different materials; (b) temperature- and time-dependent thermal properties; (c) time-dependent boundary
conditions of temperature, convective or flux type (additionally, hydraulic
pressure of water flow must be given for HSF = heat and seepage flow);
(d) programmed or automatic time step adjustment; (e) instant or post processing of information for graphical presentation.
They have been thoroughly tested against exact solution of simple systems
as well as measurements from field or laboratory investigations for various
thermal problems reported by Fleming (1970a, b), Frivik and Pedersen (1975),
Frivik et al. (1977), Thorbergsen (1979, 1980) and Comini and Frivik (1980).
REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
A review of recent literature shows that the two types of refrigeration
systems most widely used in soil freezing are: (1) mechanical refrigeration
with a p u m p e d loop secondary coolant; and (2) expendable liquid, by preference nitrogen (LN2}, at near atmospheric pressure and temperature around
--190C. Neither of these are optimal from a thermodynamic point of view
"but they are preferred due to a simple mounting procedure at the construction

HSF
Bt

xx-~
+

~_~

u :-

kx~

: v :-

~t

~~y = 0

ky ~y

- ,~c~ (U~-x
t + v~>

~t
~
pc ~y : ~
Xy

dt
~
8t + 8
8t
pc ~ = ~ ~x ~
~y ky ~ + q

NRAD

~Dk x ~ +~P
~ k y~

2D

dt
~
~t
8
8t
pc ~ = ~ ~ ~ + ~
k~+

HEAT 20

]D

dt
~
3t
pc ~ : ~ ~ ~ + q

HEAT ]DO

Geometry

2D

artesian
y]indrical
C;pherical

Cartesian

Cartesian
cylindrical
spherical

Dimensions Coordinates

Differentia] equations in model

Program

Programs for phase change problems available at D RG

TABLE I

Three-time level
time-marching scheme

Finite elements.
Galerkins method

Finite differences.
Alternate direction
implicit

Finite differences.
Implicit, modified
Runge - Kutta

Numerical method

Comini & Frivik

(IgBO)

Frivik & al.

(1977)

Fleming(197] a,
b)

Thorbergsen
(]979, 1980)

References

192

site. They differ widely in performance since a LN2 system has a capacity
nearly independent of temperature while the capacity of a mechanical refrigeration plant is strongly influenced by the evaporating temperature and therefore by the temperature of the soil. The models used in this paper are as
follows.
For LN2, a prescribed temperature at the outer surface of the freeze pipes
is used as boundary condition. The temperature is decreased linearly from the
initial 7C to the design temperature (--190C or --180C) over a period of
four hours, and thereafter maintained constant.
For the mechanical refrigeration system with a secondary coolant, the
capacity curve is described and linked to the surface temperature of the freeze
pipes by the following equations (eqs.l--6; see the Notation).
NOTATION
a,b,c,

general c o e f f i c i e n t s

A,

a r e a , nl

specific

vol~n~tric

heat t r a n s f e r

vOlUr!~tric l a t e n t

hydraulic

heat f l u x ,

specific

in equations

Car t eslaT! Coordinates

z,y

the rHa l conduct I vl t y , W'r-F

d.r ~Ity,

heat c a p a c l t y J/~gL
heat c a p ~ c i ! y ,

ks'm 3

J/nl3K

co(fficient,

W/;[2Y

Sub},crl pts

heat of f u s i o n , J/n 3

brat +

dry

~ +aborat o~

q u a r t z c o n t e n t , per cent by volume

liquid

refrigeration

plp( +

t e m p e r a t u r e , C

referred

u,v

flow velecity

x,y

in the ( , y )

w a t e r c o n t e n t , per cent of dry w e i g n t

qz

p r e s s u r e , Pa
W/m2 and W/m3
refrigeration

c a p a c i t y , W/m2 f r e e z e pipes

capacity, W

in ( x , y )

direction

- m/s

tO s ( l i d

(pal:title)

or tO [ I p e s u r f a c e

directions

Capacity curve vs. evaporating temperature:

Qe = a +

t e + c " te2

(1)

Heat transferred from brine to refrigerant in the evaporator:

Qe = ke" Ae"

( t b - - re)

(2)

Heat transferred from soil to brine in the freeze pipes:

Q, = kp Ap (t s - t b)

(3)

Neglecting losses in headers and main pipes, and dividing through with the
total area of freezing pipes, it follows from eqs.1, 2 and 3:
q = A--pQ
e = A---~pl ( a + b" t e +

A e

C"

t ~ ) = :4-p, " k e " (tb - - te) = k p " (t s -- tb)

(4)

Heat transfer coefficients in the evaporator and freeze pipes are related to
the evaporating and brine temperatures by:
k e = a e -k b e t e + c e te2

(5)

kp = ap + bp" t b + Cp" t~

(6)

193

For a specified temperature t s at the outer surface of the freeze pipe there
is only one evaporating temperature t e satisfying eq.4. Based on a one-stage
plant with Refrigerant 22, glycol as a secondary coolant, and a 1450 rpm
reciprocal compressor, data are given in Table II for heat transfer coefficients,
and for four plants with different specific capacities R1, R2, R3 and R4. The
specific capacities correspond to the normal range in soil freezing, but it
should be noted that form as well as coefficients in eqs.l--6 might differ considerably from one system to the other. A more detailed discussion on these
matters is given by Frivik (1980).
The equations are implemented in the programs by stating the boundary
condition on the outer surface of pipes as the flux q in eq.4. At time r a pipe
temperature t s is computed by the program. Eq.4, including eqs.5 and 6, is
then solved for t b and t e by an iterative m e t h o d of the Newton-Raphson type.
With t e known, the boundary condition q for the next time step Ar can be
calculated from eq.4. The m e t h o d represents an explicit forward stepping
scheme, and care should be taken to avoid too large time steps.
MATERIAL P R O P E R T I E S
Data for every material used in the calculations are given in Table III.
Calculations of temperature-dependent properties are performed in program
subroutines by linear interpolation between specified values. Latent heat of
fusion is included in the apparent volumetric heat capacity, unless otherwise
stated. Thermal properties are calculated from geotechnical data according to
methods given by Johansen and Frivik (1980), or measured directly.
RESULTS
Results from the simulations with Heat 100 and NRAD are given in Figs.I-8. Fig.1 shows the influence of refrigeration capacity or pipe temperature for
freezing in fat clay. Freezing in various materials are computed in Fig.2, where
also the effect of unfrozen water below 0C is demonstrated (M1 vs. M2), as
well as thawing. Results for LN2 -- freezing are given in Fig.3. LN2 consumption can be computed from the heat flux. Propagation speed of the 0C isotherm given in Fig.4 can be important in order to estimate frost heave.
Figs.5--8 display the importance of real geometries in computations of
freezing times. Generally, the freezing is faster in the two-dimensional case
compared to a single pipe (see Fig.5).
The temperature distribution in the frozen volume given in Fig.7 can be
used for subsequent mechanical design. In Fig.8, a comparison is made between
the m e t h o d of Khakimov, used by Brendeng (1980) and the programs. The
simplified m e t h o d underestimates the frozen distance at large freezing times.
FREEZING WITH SEEPAGE FLOW
Simplified methods to estimate the influence of seepage flow on soil freezing were given by Khakimov (1957) and Takashi {1969), and Hashemi and

194

! ~"

1
I

iI
Lr-

1
~9

0
~9

~9

t
i

195

T A B L E III
Material properties
Material

Density

Content
Property

N-I

Ty[>e

~d

's

~z

46

Data U s e d in P r o g r a m 5
Interpolation Between Specified

(Linear

027

t
Fat
Clay

b11

200

800

2.13
2.~~1~.o~/~

C.][I -<
Fat
Clay

] 200

2 800

46

~, C

~ = 2.13;

014

1.7~ ~.5~ ~ . ~ o ; ~ 4 ~ . ~ 4 ~ . o
~8~ ,~ . 6 , o6~,~.~ ,3.2

below

t
M2

0C

above

C = 2.05"i0 ~

7 = 1.0;

1.64.10 ~ released
I

River
Sand

M3

1 80012
i

700

19

A
_ _ _ _
C - 1 0 -~

45

-40.0

-3.33

-0.15

-0.08

3.36

3.36

3.~6

2.96

2.0

2.03

14.0

below

t
River
Sand

M4

i 800 2 700

19

45

= 3.36;

X, C

1 920

2 700

15

30

Sand

1 600 2 712

20

35

-40.0

3.27

-40.0

6.03.26

1.60

1.80

3.20

2.00

below

k x : ky

'IV

,"

3.14

released
__0.41

3.06

5.30

36.5

0C
C = 2.76"10 ~

at 0oC
0C

C = 2-68"10 ~

at 0oC

0.2

-o. 1

2.93

2.72

-0.06

~J- 0 . 0 4

2.4l I 2.00

261

1 079!1

871

15.0

2,00

-0.04

15.0

2.45

2,45

0c

kx=ky=(2.46+0.091"t)'10-~

0.6

.~,J/-~.~ "~
----

""

2.76 2.'~"

above

-~o'~ . " / / I

,~.,

,,/-'~c

732"

above

0.8

40

2.08 2 . 0 8

~ = 2.08;

~ = 1.8;

0C

f~"

o -5~-

0.0
2.08

-1.5:0 - 5.0 - 1.0 - 0:3 - 0.i -_0.06 - 0 . 0 5

1.7

~0.03

above

OC

9.62"107

C . 1 0 -~

at 0OC

979 2 957

released

0C

C = 3.2"i0 ~

q7]

C = 2.03"i0 {

M6

003,1

C = 2.03-106

below

X = 2.68;

1, C

-0.04

~ - 7 ~

1.14.108

t
Gravel

-0.05

0C

M5

Values)

Jo.5
I

I- I o . z .o

-30

----

. . . . . . .

10

15

. . . .

20
Time

"l:

25
. days

-Io.,
00
30

Fig.1. Radius o f frozen zone and pipe temperature vs. time. R 1 - - R 3 ffi specific refrigeration
capacities; see table II; . . . .
radius vs. time for different constant pipe temperatures;
....
pipe temperature vs. time for different refrigeration capacities: material M1, see
table III; pipe diameter 0.1 m; program H E A T 100 (Table I), single pipe.

196
-

I"T":'/-'7--

0.5
E

E o.~
.~ 0.3

,g
0.2
0.1
0.0

10

15
Ti me

20
% , days

25

30

Fig.2. R a d i i o f f r o z e n a n d t h a w e d z o n e s vs. time. M 1 - - M 3 = m a t e r i a l t y p e ( T a b l e III); pipe

d i a m e t e r 0.1 m; r e f r i g e r a t i o n c a p a c i t y R 2 ( T a b l e II). T h a w i n g is s t a r t e d for m a t e r i a l M1
a f t e r 1 9 . 5 d a y s w i t h a c o n s t a n t h e a t flux q = 1 0 0 0 W / m 2. P r o g r a m H E A T 1 0 0 ( T a b l e I),
single pipe.

t I I I I

(~ M1/-190C/d:O,lOm

100001t

1.0

M1/ - 190C/ d =O05m

18

M~J-19ooc/d:o.~om

tli I
8000

~4
~1~11/\

nE

II ~\\
6 ooo

"/.

.44

\\\%

t/)

~004 .\'"2
(IJ
T

M1/-~8ooc/d:O.lOm

0.4

2 000

5
6
7
T i m e 1;,

8
doys

Fig.3. R a d i u s o f f r o z e n z o n e a n d h e a t flux t o freezing pipes vs. t i m e for LN 2 freezing.

radius,
Material M1, see T a b l e III; p i p e d i a m e t e r s 0.1 a n d 0.05 m ; - = h e a t flux; p r o g r a m H E A T 1 0 0 ( T a b l e I), single pipe.

197
i I

, 0.8
=,.-

i
-I

0.8

q ~ 06 'L ~\

0.6 E

iv"

c ~ 0.4
._o=

~.

0-002

I,,

~~o.~

/ ~-><f

0.00

~ . _

,~.,..c.

.........

ffi

6
7
8
9
Time 1: , doys

0.2
0.0
10

Fig.4. Radius of frozen zone and propagation speed of the zero isotherm vs. time for
different freezing methods. Refrigeration capacity R2 (Table II}; LN 2 at--190C; material
M1 (Table III); pipe diameter 0.1 m; program HEAT 100 (Table I}, single pipe.

01

-'f,
* -15

0.4

-2o ~

~,,oo

-~

--.-

0.I
"30t

'I

'1

I0

15
Time

20
25
~ ,days

Fig.5. Distance of freezing (

) from pipes and node point between pipes (see figure), and
pipe temperatures (--_____} vs. time. Material M1 (Table III}; refrigeration capacity R2
(Table II); program NRAD (Table I), six pipes in a circle with diameter 2 m; pipe diameter
0.1 m;
= comparison with HEAT 100, single pipe.

198

Elapsed

time

T , days

@@-

Fig.6. Development of frozen zone (zero isotherm) with time. For reference data, see
Fig.5.
r

5-.3

0 ~

~. -I0
2~

-|5

-;tO
0.0

~'o.Iom

0.5

1.0

1.5
Distance

D,

2.0
rn

Fig.7. Temperature distribution in frozen volume after 20 days. Graphs 1 and 2 temperature vs. distance from center in main circle; graph 3 temperature between pipes vs. distance
from pipe. For reference data see Fig.5.
Slipcevich ( 1 9 7 3 ) solved t h e p r o b l e m b y finite differences. I n o r d e r t o solve
such p r o b l e m s with realistic g e o m e t r i e s a n d b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s , a finite
e l e m e n t p r o g r a m H S F (see T a b l e I) was d e v e l o p e d at D R E . T h e p r o g r a m has
b e e n t e s t e d o n a l a b o r a t o r y m o d e l o f a soil freezing s y s t e m , a n d the corres p o n d e n c e w i t h m e a s u r e d values is g o o d (see Fig.9). A full d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e
p r o g r a m a n d l a b o r a t o r y m o d e l is given b y C o m i n i a n d Frivik (1980}.

199

'

1.0
E

OB
0.6

C
0

0.4

02
0.0 m
0

10

20

30

40
Time ~ ,doys

50

Fig.8. Comparison between programs NRAD, HEAT 100 and Khakimovs method; see
Brendeng (1980). Distance of freezing front from pipes and nodepoint between pipes vs.
time. 80 pipes in a circle with diameter 25.5 m. Pipe diameter 0.09 m. Material M5 (Table
III). Refrigeration capacity R4 (Table II).
CONCLUSION
In this p a p e r we have d e m o n s t z a t e d t h e use o f FID and FEM p r o g r a m s in
t h e r m a l design o f artificial soil freezing systems. It is believed t h a t t h e y
p r e d i c t t h e b e h a v i o r o f such systems, with t h e e x c e p t i o n o f heave p r o b l e m s ,
p r o v i d e d t h a t a t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l s y s t e m description is possible.

~, F t o w

c) O C - i s o t h e r m

675 m m

~'0.038 m

s"~

10

vs. t i m ~

15
20
25
30
T i m e "C, hours

d) t e m p e r a t u r e s

_~o.

vs. t i m e

450 mm

~.-y.
FEM-grid

-10

4V
I---

~o,

-30

o--20
E

CI

Q~

L.)
o

10

e)

o
o

.5

10

10

flow

o
I

d/'pIpe

o
o

-,oooo,
15
20
25
30
T i m e ~ , hours

15
20
25
30
T i m e T , hours

I
o

upstream

L/down st r e a m

,~

conditions

vs. t i m e

I
olgooc,
oo o~o o o I
o

b) B o u n d a r y

o ~ ~ = measured;

= c o m p u t e d with H S F . Values f r o m Berggren (1979).

Fig.9. Artificial soil freezing w i t h seepage flow. Material M6 (Table III); h y d r a u l i c pressure d i f f e r e n c e across m o d e l 206 Pa;

],

a) Model

b~
O
O

201
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
T h a n k s are d u e t o T r y g v e E i k e v i k a n d A n d e r s Sara w h o p r e p a r e d t h e d a t a
a n d p e r f o r m e d t h e c o m p u t e r simulations. T h e p r o g r a m H S F was d e v e l o p e d
together with Gianni Comini under a post-doctorate fellowship from the
R o y a l N o r w e g i a n C o u n c i l f o r Scientific and I n d u s t r i a l Research.
REFERENCES
Brendeng, E., 1980. Early Experiences with Ground Freezing in Norway. Proc. Int. Syrup.
Ground Freezing, 2nd, Trondheim. Norwegian Inst. of Technol., Trondheim.
Berggren, A., 1979. Artificial Freezing of Seepage Flow. Final thesis at Division of Refrigeration. Engineering (in Norwegian).
Carslaw, H.S. and Jaeger, J.C., 1959. Conduction of Heat in Solids, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England.
Comini, G. and Frivik, P.E., 1980. Modelling of Heat and Seepage Flow. In press.
Fleming, A.K., 1971a. The numerical calculation of freezing processes. Proc. Int. Congr.
Refrigeration, 13th, Vol. 2.
Fleming, A.K., 1971b. Application of a computer program to freezing processes. Proc. Int.
Congr. Refrigeration, 13th, Vol. 2.
Frivik, P.E. and Pedersen, J.M., 1975. Thermal regime in road constructions. Measurements
and simulation. Proc. Int. Congr. Fondation Fran@aise d'Etude Nordique, 6th, Vol. 2.
Frivik, P.E. et al., 1977. Thermal design of pavement structures in seasonal frost areas.
J. Heat Transl., 99(4).
Frivik, P.E., 1980. State-of-the-art report ground freezing thermal properties, modelling of
processes, and thermal design. Int. Symp. Ground Freezing, 2nd, Trondheim. Eng. Geol.,
18:
Harlan, R.L. and Nixon, J.F., 1978. Ground thermal regime. In: Andersland and Anderson
(Editors), Geotechnical Engineering for Cold Regions. McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y.
Hashemi, H.T. and Slipcevich, C.M., 1973. Effect of seepage stream on artificial soil freezing. J. Soil Mech. Found. Div. (ASCE), 99(3).
Johansen, O. and Frivik, P.E., 1980. Thermal properties of soils and rock materials. Proc.
Int. Syrup. Ground Freezing, 2nd, Trondheim. Norwegian Inst. of Technol., Trondheim.
Khakimov, K.R., 1957. Artificial Freezing of Soils. Theory and Practice. Israel Program for
Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 1966.
Lewis, R.W. and Morgan, K., 1979. Numerical methods in thermal problems. Proc. Int.
Conf., Permafrost, 1st, Swansea, Pineridge Press, England.
Sanger, F.J., 1968. Ground freezing in construction. J. Soil Mech. Found. Div. (ASCE),
94(1).
Sanger, F.J. and Sayles, F.H., 1978. Thermal and theological computations for artificially
frozen soils. Proc. 1st. Int. Symp. Ground Freezing, 1st, Trondheim. Eng. Geol., 13:
311--337. Elsevier Scien. Publ. Company.
Staender, W., 1967. Das Gefrierverfahren im Schacht-, Grund- und Tunnelbau. In: Plank
(Editor), Handbuch der Kaeltetechnik. Springer, Berlin.
Takashi, T., 1969. Influence of seepage stream on the joining of frozen zones in artificial
soil freezing. Highway Res. Board Spec. Rep., 103.
Thorbergsen, E., 1979. HEAT 100 -- User Documentation of a Program System for OneDimensional Heat Conduction (in Norwegian). Report Div. of Refrig. Eng.
Thorbergsen, E., 1980. Heat Storage in Natural Structures with Special Reference to Heat
Pump Systems. Dr. Ing. Thesis, In press (in Norwegian).