Cryosuction‐induced fracturing in multiphase porous materials: Numerical modeling and experimental validation

Abstract

Whether naturally-or artificially-induced due to human activities, decreasing or increasing the suction in multiphase-fluidsaturated porous materials can lead to enormous changes in their thermo-hydromechanical properties. In this, both the mathematical description and the numerical modeling of the coupled problem present a challenging task. The following contribution considers the instance related to micro-cryosuction-induced fractures, which can be observed in saturated and unsaturated porous materials under freezing conditions. This research focuses on continuum porous media mechanics extended by a diffusive phase-field fracture method. For the cryosuction-induced fractures in saturated porous media, the water freezing is treated as a phase-change process. This is modeled using a phase-field approach, in which the thermal energy derives the phase change and, thus, leads to the occurrence of micro-cryosuction due to the formation of the ice phase.