Natural Convection in Water-Saturated Rock Mass under Artificial Freezing

The authors study theoretically the non-isometric natural convection of pore water in rock mass subjected to artificial ground freezing. The mathematical model is developed for a permeable water-saturated layer of rocks under artificial freezing. The model assumptions allowed transition to a two-dimension axially symmetric model. The numerical computation gives critical Rayleigh number values such that natural convection of pore water has a significant influence on temperature and position of phase transition front. Three possible convection regimes of pore water are determined as function of alternating-sign ability of thermal expansion factor.