• Conventional artificial ground freezing (AGF) design, modeling and optimization

  • Selective artificial ground freezing with optimum insulations, including effect of pipe short-circuit

  • Modeling of thermosyphon for artificial ground freezing: CFD, Thermal network model and reduced-order TPCT

  • Heat transfer and flow characterization of boiling-condensation in thermosyphon

  • Hybrid thermosyphon for artificial ground freezing with refrigeration plant and/or renewable energy, i.e. cold energy storage

AGF schem

Artificial Ground Freezing (AGF) has been used in civil, mining and tunneling applications to protect groundwater inflow and underground working from contamination and to strengthen the mechanical structure of the ground.  The principle of AGF system is to circulate a sub-freeze coolant fluid in a network of freezing pipes to frozen the ground. As the coolant flows through the pipes, it extracts heat from the soil, and groundwater is, gradually, transformed into ice. Compared to other geotechnical support methods, such as cement and chemical grouting, AGF system has some advantages: compatible with wide range of soil types; lower effect on the ground soil during and after freezing process; low impact on the environment; and more reliable method for high-risk applications, such as uranium mines and hazardous waste management. Despite its advantages, AGF system poses very high capital and operating costs as well as intensive energy consumptions – and to some extent a large carbon footprint! The system requires continuous energy supply, ranging from several months/years, such as in Cameco uranium mines, to hundred of years in the case of sealing-off contaminated area, such as arsenic contamination in Giant mine and radioactive contamination in Fukushima reactor, in order to maintain the frozen body. Hence, finding an effective and practical method to reduce the energy consumption of the AGF system is of great interest to engineers and specialist in this field.

AGF  AGF validation

Our group is working on fundamental and applied research of AGF system via experimental and mathematical modeling with the aim to improve and optimize the conventional AGF process. We also introduce novel concepts of sustainable AGF system in order to reduce capital and operating costs.

Relevant Publications

  1. A. Zueter, M. Xu, M. Alzoubi, A.P. Sasmito*, Development of conjugate reduced-order models for selective artificial ground freezing: Thermal and computational analysis, Applied Thermal Engineering 190 (2021) 116782, doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.116782
  2. A. Zueter, A. Nie-Rouquette, M. Alzoubi, A.P. Sasmito*, Thermal and hydraulic analysis of selective artificial ground freezing using air insulation: experiment and modeling, Computers and Geotechnics 120 (2020) 103416, doi:10.1016/j.compgeo.2019.103416
  3. M. Xu, S. Akhtar, A. Zueter, V. Auger, M. Alzoubi, A.P. Sasmito*, Development of analytical solution for a two-phase Stefan problem in artificial ground freezing using singular perturbation theory, ASME Journal of Heat Transfer 142 (2020) 122401, doi:10.1115/1.4048137
  4. M. Alzoubi, M. Xu, F. Hassani, S. Poncet, A.P. Sasmito*, Artificial ground freezing: A review of thermal and hydraulic aspects, Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 104 (2020) 103534, doi: 10.1016/j.tust.2020.103534
  5. M. Alzoubi, A. Nie-Rouquette, A. Madiseh, F. Hassani, A.P. Sasmito*, On the concept of the Freezing-on-Demand (FoD) in artificial ground freezing for long-term applications, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 143 (2019) 118557, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.118557
  6. M. Alzoubi, A. Madiseh, F. Hassani, A.P. Sasmito*, Heat Transfer analysis in artificial ground freezing under high seepage: Validation and heatlines visualization, International Journal of Thermal Sciences 139 (2019) 232-245, doi: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2019.02.005
  7. M. Alzoubi, A. Zueter, A. Nie-Rouquette,  A.P. Sasmito*, Freezing on demand: A new concept for mine safety and energy savings in wet underground mines, International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 29 (2019) 621-627, doi: 10.1016/j.ijmst.2019.06.015
  8. A. Alzoubi, A. Nie-Rouquette, A.P. Sasmito*, Conjugate heat transfer in artificial ground freezing using enthalpy-porosity method: Experiments and model validation, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 126 (2018) 740-752 doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.05.059