Development and Validation of Enthalpy-Porosity Method for Artificial Ground Freezing Under Seepage Conditions

Groundwater flow has an undesirable effect on ice growth in artificial ground freezing (AGF) process: high water flow could hinder the hydraulic sealing between two freeze pipes. Therefore, a reliable prediction of the multiphysics ground behavior under seepage flow conditions is compulsory. This paper describes a mathematical model that considers conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. The model has been derived, validated, and implemented to simulate the multiphase heat transfer between freeze pipes and surrounded porous ground structure with and without the presence of groundwater seepage. The paper discusses, also, the influence of the coolant’s temperature, the spacing between two freeze pipes, and the seepage temperature on time needed to create a closed, frozen wall. The results indicate that spacing between two pipes and seepage velocity have the highest impact on the closure time and the frozen body width.