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Study on the freezing temperature of saline soil

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Abstract

Freezing temperature is an important parameter in studying the freezing mechanism of saline soil. An equation for calculating the freezing temperature is proposed based on the phase transition theory in porous medium, including two main influencing factors, the water activity and pore size. In this equation, the effect of the water activity on the freezing temperature of soil is calculated by Pitzer model, while the impact of pore size is replaced by water content. Through comparing the calculated results with the published experimental data, the equation is proved to be competent in predicting the freezing temperature for the saline soil with sodium chloride or calcium chloride. For the saline soil with sodium carbonate, the effect of salt hydrate crystallization should be taken into consideration. With respect to the saline soil with sodium sulfate, it is difficult to determine the freezing temperature, since there is uncertainty of the resultant when freezing (that is, heptahydrate or decahydrate). In addition, the effects of pore size and multi-component solutes on freezing temperature are also discussed. The study would be helpful for revealing the freezing mechanism and also providing a useful theoretical method for engineering design of saline soil in cold regions.

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Abbreviations

a w :

Water activity

\(A^{\phi }\) :

The Debye–Hukel parameter

\(B_{\text{CA}}^{\phi } ,f^{\phi }\) :

The two functions expressing ion intensity

D:

The dielectric constant of water

e :

The charge of electron

I :

Ionic strength of the solution

J(x):

Integral of short range interaction potential energy

\(J^{{\prime }} \left( x \right)\) :

The first derivative of J(x)

k:

The Boltzmann constant

m :

The molar concentration of salt

m i :

The molar concentration of species i

M w :

The relative molecular mass of water

N 0 :

The Avogadro constant

p :

Pressure

p 0 :

The atmospheric pressure

S :

Entropy

T :

Temperature

T 0 :

The freezing temperature of pure water

V :

Volume

Z C, Z A :

The charge numbers of the cations and anions

\(\beta_{CA}^{(0)} ,\beta_{CA}^{(1)} ,\beta_{CA}^{(2)}\) :

The characteristic parameters of CA electrolyte

θ :

The interaction parameters between two types of co-ions

\({}^{E}\theta_{ij} ,{}^{E}\theta_{ij}^{'}\) :

The charges of ions i and j

ρ w :

The density of water at temperature T

\(\nu_{\text{C}} ,\nu_{\text{A}}\) :

The numbers of the cations and anions in solution

ϕ :

The osmotic coefficient

μ :

Chemical potential

Ψ:

The interaction parameter of different ions

\(\varPhi_{ij}^{\varPhi } ,\varPhi_{ij} ,\varPhi_{ij}^{'}\) :

The second virial coefficients

\(\Delta S_{\text{m}}\) :

The entropy of per molar volume during phase changing

l :

Liquid solution

i :

Pore ice

C, A:

Cation and anion

0:

Initial value

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41230630), Key research projects of the frontier sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDY-SSW-DQC015), Western Project Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-XB3-19), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program No. 2012CB026102), and foundation of State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering (SKLFSE-ZY-03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Zean Xiao, Yuanming Lai & Mingyi Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zean Xiao

  3. School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, 730070, Gansu, China

    Yuanming Lai

Authors
  1. Zean Xiao
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  2. Yuanming Lai
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  3. Mingyi Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuanming Lai.

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Xiao, Z., Lai, Y. & Zhang, M. Study on the freezing temperature of saline soil. Acta Geotech. 13, 195–205 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-017-0537-1

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