Using soil freezing characteristic curve to estimate the hydraulic conductivity function of partially frozen soils

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

doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2012.07.002

Cited by 143 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…However, these studies did not obtain a complete curve for SFCC, and had little discussion on the water and solute influences on the freezing process of soil. Azmatch et al (2012) obtained the SFCC by TDR combining temperature sensor method and compared the SFCCs between saline soil and non-saline soil, concluding that SFCC for saline soil was relatively different from that of non-saline soil. They also suggested that the hydraulic parameters for saline frozen soils should be carefully studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Solute and water effects on soil freezing characteristics based on laboratory experiments

Tan

Huang

et al. 2015

Cold Regions Science and Technology

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Solute and water effects on soil freezing characteristics based on laboratory experiments

Tan

Huang

et al. 2015

Cold Regions Science and Technology

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“…On the other hand, soils are usually subjected to various stress conditions in the field, affecting pore structure (Ng and Pang, 2000; Zhou and Ng, 2014) and thus SFCC. Konrad (1990) and Azmatch et al (2012) studied effects of stress history on SFCC. In their tests, soil specimens were first loaded and then unloaded to zero stress.…”

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confidence: 99%

Stress Effects on Soil Freezing Characteristic Curve: Equipment Development and Experimental Results

Mu¹,

Zhou

et al. 2019

Vadose Zone Journal

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Core Ideas A triaxial apparatus is developed to measure stress‐dependent SFCC. Unfrozen water content of clay and sand increases with increasing confining stress. Stress effects on the SFCC of clay are more significant than sand. The soil freezing characteristic curve (SFCC) defines the relationship between soil temperature and unfrozen water content. This curve is important for predicting water flow and heat conduction in frozen soils, as well as freezing heave and thawing settlement. So far, SFCCs reported in the literature were usually determined at zero stress. To investigate stress effects on SFCC, a stress‐ and temperature‐controlled triaxial apparatus was developed in this study. The unfrozen volumetric water content was measured using a newly developed noninvasive time domain reflectometry (TDR) probe. The new apparatus was used to measure SFCCs of two typical soils (i.e., clay and sand) at different stress conditions (i.e., 30, 100, and 200 kPa). Each specimen was subjected to compression, and then a cycle of freezing and thawing. As expected, for both soils, the saturated water content prior to freezing was smaller at higher stresses because of compression. During the subsequent freezing and thawing, the soil specimen at a higher stress was able to retain more liquid water than that at a lower stress. The higher unfrozen water retention capacity at higher stresses is mainly because the pore size of a soil specimen becomes smaller during compression. Hence, more water can retain a liquid state due to the enhanced capillarity. On the other hand, stress effects on the SFCC were found to be more significant for clay than for sand. This is likely because the stress‐induced change in pore size distribution is larger in clay due to its higher compressibility.

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“…In our simulations, we neglect the presence of vegetation, while the soil is initialized with a coarse material to absorb almost all water draining from the snowpack. Furthermore, the hydraulic conductivity of the soil is not reduced when soil freezing occurs, which in reality may occur (e.g., Azmatch et al, ). In the current simulation setup, we are not able to correctly assess water accumulating at the snow‐soil interface resulting from a reduced permeability of the soil in case of soil freezing or the influence of vegetation on snowpack runoff.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled Snow Cover and Avalanche Dynamics Simulations to Evaluate Wet Snow Avalanche Activity

Wever

Valero²,

Techel

2018

JGR Earth Surface

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We present physics‐based snowpack simulations for four snow seasons with detailed wet snow avalanche activity records. The distributed, spatially explicit simulations using the Alpine3D and SNOWPACK model show that the simulated snowpack in the release areas of documented wet snow avalanches often exhibits its first wetting of the season on the release day. This first wetting is accompanied in the simulations by liquid water accumulating on capillary barriers, often formed by depth hoar layers. The strongest water accumulations and largest increases in percolation depth are found on the day of avalanche release. For individual avalanche paths, however, this only holds in 25%–30% of the cases. Assuming that the depth of the strongest water accumulation corresponds to the avalanche fracture depth, the avalanche dynamics model RAMMS‐Extended was run using simulated snowpack properties as initial conditions in the release area and boundary conditions along the avalanche path. On average, the simulated affected area by the avalanche and runout distance for the release day are statistically significant in closer agreement with the observations than two days before the release. This does not hold for the simulations of 1 day before and 1 and 2 days after the release. This suggests that fracture depths and the temporal evolution of percolation depths are adequately simulated within a ±1‐day period. The results show a large potential for distributed snow cover and avalanche dynamics simulations to assess wet snow avalanche hazards, although predictions for individual avalanche paths remain challenging.

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Using soil freezing characteristic curve to estimate the hydraulic conductivity function of partially frozen soils

Cited by 143 publications

References 30 publications

Solute and water effects on soil freezing characteristics based on laboratory experiments

Solute and water effects on soil freezing characteristics based on laboratory experiments

Stress Effects on Soil Freezing Characteristic Curve: Equipment Development and Experimental Results

Coupled Snow Cover and Avalanche Dynamics Simulations to Evaluate Wet Snow Avalanche Activity

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