Abstract:
The bearing capacity of the soil surrounding the pile foundation of a building in the cryolithozone is directly dependent on the thickness of the active layer (ALT). The active layer is the upper soil layer that thaws in summer and freezes in winter annually. Its thickness in permafrost regions is influenced by climatic conditions, thermophysical properties of the soil, vegetation cover, precipitation, solar radiation and other factors, particularly climate warming, which occurs at faster rate in permafrost areas compared to other regions. Studying changes in ALT thickness is a pressing issue addressed by numerous research teams and it is the focus of active international programs dedicated to collecting and disseminating data on ALT thickness across various locations in the Northern Hemisphere. In Russia, most buildings in the cryolithozone are constructed and operated on the basis of the principle of maintaining the foundation base in frozen state. Therefore, the ALT thickness serves as a crucial indicator of the thermal stability of the soil surrounding the pile foundation of a building under changing climate conditions. This study examines the ALT thickness in the ventilated underground of a modern residential building with a pile foundation equipped with seasonally operating cooling devices used for ground thermal stabilization. Various climate warming scenarios and their impact on the performance of cooling devices, and consequently on the ALT thickness, are studied in detail. The novelty of the proposed research is in the original methodology that incorporates temperature monitoring data and historical thermal regime of the soil surrounding the pile foundation of a specific residential building in Salekhard into the computer modelling process.
Keywords:pile foundation, mathematical modelling, heat and mass transfer, permafrost.
UDC:519.6
Received: 05.03.2025 Received in revised form: 15.04.2025 Accepted: 24.05.2025
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