ABSTRACT
The transfer of heat from subzero temperature sources to the surrounding rockmass is a matter of great concern in a number of geo-engineering problems namely: natural processes of ground freezing and thawing, storage of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in underground chambers, soil stabilization for various processes such as sinking of shafts, tunneling etc. This may cause pore-water to freeze, and if the pore water freezes, thermal stresses and displacements are induced along with the volume change of water upon freezing and movement of pore-water into unfrozen regions. The response of rock masses to this engineering problem is a coupled phenomenon involving thermal (T), hydrological (H) and mechanical (M) process. This paper attempts to simulate temperature transfer and induced deformation around a hypothetical underground opening with low temperature heat source based on finite element code applied to thermo-poro-elasticity.
