Artificial Ground Freezing for Tunnel Excavation
Application ID: 143711
This thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) model of artificial ground freezing couples heat transfer, groundwater flow, and soil mechanics to capture ice formation, pore-pressure changes, and ground deformation during tunnel excavation. The freezing process is modeled with the apparent heat capacity method. Darcy's law is coupled to heat transfer for convective transport of water, using saturation-dependent permeability and a mass sink term to account for phase change. Mechanical behavior is described with poroelasticity and thermal expansion of ice.
This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products:
however, additional products may be required to completely define and model it. Furthermore, this example may also be defined and modeled using components from the following product combinations:
- COMSOL Multiphysics® and
- Subsurface Flow Module and
- either the MEMS Module, or Structural Mechanics Module
The combination of COMSOL® products required to model your application depends on several factors and may include boundary conditions, material properties, physics interfaces, and part libraries. Particular functionality may be common to several products. To determine the right combination of products for your modeling needs, review the Tabella delle Funzionalità and make use of a free evaluation license. The COMSOL Sales and Support teams are available for answering any questions you may have regarding this.