Numerical investigations and engineering applications on freezing expansion of soil restrained two-phase closed thermosyphons

A numerical simulation has been carried out to describe the coupled heat transfer of water-saturated soil with a two-phase closed thermosyphon. This problem is characterized by the phase change occurring in the water-saturated soil, moving freezing front and heat transfer of a two-phase closed thermosyphon. According to the governing equations in the porous media and heat transfer characteristics of the two-phase closed thermosyphon, the temperature distributions in the water-saturated soil and the moving freezing front are solved numerically by the finite-difference method. The predictions of the present study are well agreed with the measured data. The mechanism of the freezing expansion restrained by the two-phase closed thermosyphon is exposed, based on which the effective radius can be determined for engineering applications.