Numerical Simulation of Soil Frost Heave around the Buried Oil Pipeline in Permafrost Talik Regions

• Main Authors: Zaiguo Fu, Yu Zhao, Bo Yu, Yasuo Kawaguchi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Talik; permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1053.1345; http://yzhao.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/4/3/25435923/2.pdf

Abstract To analyze the thermal interaction between the buried oil pipeline and the soil around the pipe in permafrost talik regions, a two-dimensional computational model of the soil temperature fields was established based on China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP) engineering and the heat transfer process with phase change. We solved this model using numerical methods and obtained the freezing characteristics of the soil around the operating pipeline with various influential factors. The developments of the soil frost heave amounts in 4 typical permafrost talik sections within pipeline operation life cycle were predicted and analyzed by combining with Segregated Potential Frost Heave Model. The results indicated that temperatures of the oil transported, insulation layer thicknesses and water contents of soils have significant effects on the freezing characteristics. The largest frost heave amount of the soil under the pipe without thermal insulation layer predicted was 42.3cm in 55% water content talik section after operation for two years.