Experimental thawing of permafrost soils in bases of reconstructed main building of the Chita-I Thermoelectric Power Plant

Conclusions

1. Compaction of thawed soils takes place directly during the thawing process or in the first 10–35 days after it. The thawed soils do not require subsequent compaction and, as regards the load-carrying properties, they are comparable to similar rocks in a naturally thawed state.

2. The specific electric energy consumption for thawing 1 m³ of permafrost soils in bases is 25.2 kWh, and it is a fundamental characteristic in the design of industrial thawing of soil bases for determining the spacing between the heaters their capacity, and the thawing period.

3. In test thawing, the number of ground mark vertical lines and the number of marks in each vertical line should be determined from the degree of heterogeneity of the frozen soils as regards the collapsibility in plan and section. For permafrost soil conditions similar to those of the construction site of the Chita-I plant, the optimal solution is to lay one vertical line per 100–120 m² of thawing area, and to use in each vertical line not less than one mark per 5 m of section of thawed permafrost soils.