Physical Model Test and Heat Transfer Analysis on Backfilling Construction of Qinghai-Tibet Transmission Line Tower Foundation

• Published in: Energies
• Main Authors: Jun Zhang, Chenglin Zhou, Ze Zhang, Andrey Melnikov, Doudou Jin, Shengrong Zhang
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Subjects: refreezing process; foundation backfill; freeze–thaw cycles; permafrost region; permafrost
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072329

The cone-cylindrical pile foundation is a kind of shallow buried foundation, which needs to be open excavated and backfilled during construction. The density of the backfill is closely related to the refreezing process of the backfill. However, there is still a lack of relevant research on the relationship between backfill density and the refreezing process of backfill. The method of model experiment is selected to study the refreezing process of backfill under three backfill soil densities. The controlled density of backfill is 1.83, 1.62 and 1.36 g/cm3, and the times of freeze–thaw cycle is 14, 22 and 39, respectively. The main research findings are as follows: First, the effect of the initial temperature of the backfill on the refreezing is mainly reflected in the first three freeze–thaw cycles; the second is that the higher the density of the backfill, the faster the backfill responds to changes in outside air temperature, and the shorter the freezing time; third, the pile foundation is a good conductor of heat, which will cause the soil temperature change on the pile side to be significantly greater than that of the natural soil, and the temperature change of the pile foundation surface is greater than that of the backfill. The research results can provide a reference for the backfill construction of pile foundations in cold regions and the selection of boundary conditions for related numerical simulations.