Abstract
Salinization and desertification are closely related to water-salt migration caused by a temperature gradient. Based on the Darcy Law of unsaturated soils, the law of energy conservation and the law of mass conservation, the thermal-water-salt coupling mathematical model of unsaturated frozen saline soil was established. The model considered the latent heat of phase change, crystallization impedance, crystallization consumption and complete precipitation of solute crystallization in ice. In order to verify the rationality of the model, the unidirectional freezing test of unsaturated saline soil was carried out in an open system with no-pressure water supplement to obtain the spatial distribution of temperature, moisture and salt in the saline soil. Finally, numerical simulations are implemented with the assistance of COMSOL Multiphysics. Validation of the model is illustrated by comparisons between the simulation and experimental data. The results demonstrated that the temperature within saline soil changes with time and can be divided into three stages, namely quick freezing stage, transitional stage and stable stage. The water and salt contents in the freezing zone are layered, with peak values at the freezing front. The coupled model could reveal the heat-mass migration mechanism of unsaturated frozen saline soil and dynamically describe the freezing depth and the movement law of the freezing front, ice and salt crystal formation mechanism, and the change law of thermal conductivity and permeability coefficient.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Special Funds for Guiding Local Scientific and Technological Development by The Central Government (22ZY1QA005), the Science and Technology Program of Gansu Province “Outstanding Doctoral Students Project” (22JR5RA325), “Innovation Star” Funding Project for Outstanding Graduate Students of Gansu Province (2022CXZX-528), the Science and Technology Project of Gansu Province (21YF5GA050), Education Department of Gansu Province Industrial Support Plan Project (2021CYZC-28), Transport Department of Gansu Province Science and Technology R & D Projects (No.2021-12).
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Luo, Cl., Yu, Yy., Zhang, J. et al. Thermal-water-salt coupling process of unsaturated saline soil under unidirectional freezing. J. Mt. Sci. 20, 557–569 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-022-7652-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-022-7652-7