New ice lens initiation condition for frost heave in fine-grained soils

Azmatch, Tezera F.; Sego, David C.; Arenson, Lukas U.; Biggar, Kevin W.

doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2012.05.003

Cited by 63 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Guest molecules are readily available in the stoichiometric THF solution. Consequently, thermal boundary conditions, sediment properties, and the evolving stress field control the morphology of the hydrate mass as it forms and segregates, similar to ice lens formation (Azmatch et al, ; Miller, ; O'Neill & Miller, ; Rempel, ; Taber, ; Viggiani et al, ). Displacive hydrate formation pulls water from the compressible sediment, that is, cryogenic suction; the denser sediment that surrounds the segregated hydrate mass exhibits a higher CT number or X‐ray attenuation (Figure ).…”

Section: Results and Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Guest molecules are readily available in the stoichiometric THF solution. Consequently, thermal boundary conditions, sediment properties, and the evolving stress field control the morphology of the hydrate mass as it forms and segregates, similar to ice lens formation (Azmatch et al, 2012;Miller, 1972;O'Neill & Miller, 1985;Rempel, 2011b;Taber, 1930;Viggiani et al, 2015). Displacive hydrate formation pulls water from the…”

Section: Thf Hydrate Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Laboratory Strategies for Hydrate Formation in Fine‐Grained Sediments

Lei

Santamarina

2018

JGR Solid Earth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fine‐grained sediments limit hydrate nucleation, shift the phase boundary, and hinder gas supply. Laboratory experiments in this study explore different strategies to overcome these challenges, including the use of a more soluble guest molecule rather than methane, grain‐scale gas‐storage within porous diatoms, ice‐to‐hydrate transformation to grow lenses at predefined locations, forced gas injection into water saturated sediments, and long‐term guest molecule transport. Tomographic images and thermal and pressure data provide rich information on hydrate formation and morphology. Results show that hydrate formation is inherently displacive in fine‐grained sediments; lenses are thicker and closer to each other in compressible, high specific surface area sediments subjected to low effective stress. Temperature and pressure trajectories follow a shifted phase boundary that is consistent with capillary effects. Exo‐pore growth results in freshly formed hydrate with a striped and porous structure; this open structure becomes an effective pathway for gas transport to the growing hydrate front. Ice‐to‐hydrate transformation goes through a liquid stage at premelt temperatures; then, capillarity and cryogenic suction compete, and some water becomes imbibed into the sediment faster than hydrate reformation. The geometry of hydrate lenses and the internal hydrate structure continue evolving long after the exothermal response to hydrate formation has completely decayed. Multiple time‐dependent processes occur during hydrate formation, including gas, water and heat transport, sediment compressibility, reaction rate, and the stochastic nucleation process. Hydrate formation strategies conceived for this study highlight the inherent difficulties in emulating hydrate formation in fine‐grained sediments within the relatively short time scale available for laboratory experiments.

show abstract

Section: Results and Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Guest molecules are readily available in the stoichiometric THF solution. Consequently, thermal boundary conditions, sediment properties, and the evolving stress field control the morphology of the hydrate mass as it forms and segregates, similar to ice lens formation (Azmatch et al, 2012;Miller, 1972;O'Neill & Miller, 1985;Rempel, 2011b;Taber, 1930;Viggiani et al, 2015). Displacive hydrate formation pulls water from the…”

Section: Thf Hydrate Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Laboratory Strategies for Hydrate Formation in Fine‐Grained Sediments

Lei

Santamarina

2018

JGR Solid Earth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It has always been a focus and hot spot to conduct research on soil frost heave characteristics. Since Everett [9] proposed the first frost theory and Miller [10] put forward second frost theory, there has been a lot of research [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] in frost-heaving mechanism, and achieved certain results. With the deepening of the understanding on frost-heaving mechanism in permafrost, the frost-heaving fillers, especially the frost heave characteristics of the coarse-grained soil, are also studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Research on Frost Heave Characteristics of Gravel Soil and Multifactor Regression Prediction

Long

Cen

Cai

et al. 2018

Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gravel soil is usually considered to be insensitive to frost heave. However, many frost heave deformations of foundation in seasonal frozen region indicate that gravel soil may also produce frost heave under certain special conditions. In order to gain a deep insight into the frost heave characteristics of gravel soil, a series of laboratory experiments on one-dimensional frost heave were conducted under the open- and closed-water replenishing condition using an improved experiment apparatus. The influence of various factors including initial moisture content, clay content, compactness, overlying load, and water replenishing on frost-heaving ratio of gravel soil were analyzed. And the basic frost heave characteristics including frost heave amount, frost heave speed, frozen depth, freezing speed, and moisture content distribution after freezing in a gravel soil sample were analyzed. The corresponding mechanisms were also discussed. Results showed that in the open water replenishing condition, there exists a linear relationship between initial moisture content, overlying load, and frost-heaving ratio and a quadratic polynomial relationship between clay content, compactness, and frost-heaving ratio. Frost-heaving ratio in the open water replenishing condition can be found to increase over three times than that under the closed water replenishing condition. Multifactor regression empirical formula was obtained by multiple regression analysis to predict the frost-heaving ratio of gravel soil under certain collocation of factors and levels under the closed water replenishing condition. The significant effects on frost-heaving ratio were, in order, water replenishing > initial moisture content > clay content > compactness > overlying load.

show abstract

“…Mathematical models simulating heat and moisture movement in freezing soils have been reported by Harlan (1973), Taylor and Luthin (1978), Miao et al (1999), Wang et al (2004), Lei et al (1988), and Xu et al (2001). Frost heave studies (Tezera 2012;Bronfenbrener and Bronfenbrener 2010;Azmatch et al 2011Azmatch et al , 2008Arenson et al 2008;Zhang et al 2004;Konrad and Duquennoi 1993) indicate that soil cracks in the frozen fringe are due to ice lens formation. Cheng (1981) studied the unidirectional aggregation effect of unfrozen water under the seasonal freeze/thaw layer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of Soil Water Migration in Freezing Process

Mao

Miller

Zhong-jie

et al. 2014

Geotechnical Testing Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil water migration is a significant factor in the development of subgrade ice layers in permafrost areas. The prediction of moisture inflow to the freezing zone is an important element in the design and analysis of robust highway subgrade in permafrost regions. In order to better understand moisture inflow to the freezing zone, we designed an experimental investigation to monitor the variation of water content and temperature in freezing soil. Identical experiments were conducted using three different soil types: clay, silt, and fine sand. Moisture was supplied from the sample base while the column was maintained at a constant nonfreezing temperature and moisture equilibration was achieved. A temperature gradient was then applied to the sample via the application of a subfreezing temperature at the column surface. The changes in the temperature and water content of the sample were measured at regular time intervals. Based on the freezing rate, the freezing process can be classified into three stages: the quick frost stage, the transition frost stage, and the stable frost stage. During the freezing process, the inflow rates increased as the thickness of the ice lens increased. When the maximum rate was reached, the final (maximum) thickness of the ice lens was attained. Subsequently, the water inflow rates decreased. All of the water supplied from the bottom of the sample flowed into the frost section during the freezing process, with the moisture contents in the lower portion remaining relatively unchanged. The segregation potential changed with the freezing rate and soil type. This paper proposes the concept of "generalized segregation potential" to extend the traditional segregation potential concept. The use of this new concept with an existing moisture inflow prediction model provided excellent correspondence to measured inflow rates for all three study soils in the early and late stages of the test but overpredicted the inflow rates in the mid-range of the test.

show abstract

New ice lens initiation condition for frost heave in fine-grained soils

Cited by 63 publications

References 27 publications

Laboratory Strategies for Hydrate Formation in Fine‐Grained Sediments

Laboratory Strategies for Hydrate Formation in Fine‐Grained Sediments

Experimental Research on Frost Heave Characteristics of Gravel Soil and Multifactor Regression Prediction

Experimental Study of Soil Water Migration in Freezing Process

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About