Development of Design Tools for Convective Mitigation Techniques to Stabilize Embankments Built on Thaw Sensitive Permafrost

摘要

Permafrost degradation often leads to thaw settlements and engineering problems. Convective stabilization techniques have been developed to generate cooling effects to avoid permafrost thawing. However, little information on the design procedures or guidelines can be found. This research is to develop improved engineering tools for the design of convective stabilization techniques. Whether permafrost degradation happens or not depends on the heat balance across the embankment-soil interface. One heat balance chart for conventional embankments and several heat extraction capacity charts for selected stabilization techniques are proposed from a design point-of-view, using heat balance approach. Particular interest was paid to air convection embankment (ACE) and heat drain, two promising methods based on wintertime density-driven convection.