Evaluation of artificial ground freezing behavior considering the effect of pore water salinity

There is growing interest in introducing artificial ground freezing (AGF) as a method to temporarily secure unstable ground during tunnel construction. In order to efficiently operate an artificial ground freezing system, basic modeling research is needed on the changes in freezing behavior according to various soil environmental conditions as well as design conditions. In this study, a thermal-hydraulic coupled analysis was performed to simulate the artificial ground freezing process of ground containing salt water. The effect of major variables, including pore water salinity, on artificial ground freezing test performance was investigated. Additionally, an artificial neural network-based prediction model was proposed to estimate the time required to achieve the desired arch thickness. The artificial neural network model demonstrated reliable accuracy (R2 = 0.9942) in predicting the time it would take to reach the desired arch thickness. Among the major input variables considered, pore water salinity appeared to be the most influential input variable, and initial soil temperature showed the least importance.