Prediction of the thermal conductivity of freezing soils using the soil freezing characteristic curve

The thermal conductivity of freezing soils is a critical parameter in cold engineering regions. Measuring the thermal conductivity of freezing soils, especially in the field, is difficult. Therefore, we attempt to predict the thermal conductivity. By analyzing the advantage of the geometric mean model, four different soil freezing characteristic curve (SFCC) estimation models and five quartz content estimation models were introduced, and an estimated SFCC-based geometric mean model for soil thermal conductivity was proposed. The results showed that the Xin et al. SFCC model performed the best. The four SFCC-based thermal conductivity models with quartz content = sand content performed the best. Among the four SFCC-based thermal conductivity models, the Xin et al-based thermal conductivity model provided the best estimation of the thermal conductivity. It is demonstrated that the estimated SFCC-based thermal conductivity model is easy to use and can be used for predicting the relationship between thermal conductivity and temperature of freezing soils by using easy-to-obtain soil parameters.