A simple model of the soil freezing characteristic curve for saline soils with two freezing stages

Abstract

Soil freezing characteristic curve (SFCC) describes the relationship between unfrozen water and subzero temperature, which is of significance for the simulation of heat, water, salt migration in cold regions. There are two phase transition stages in some saline soils, which is often explained by the phase equilibrium of bulk solution. However, the second phase transition and chemical characteristic of solute are ignored in the current coupling numerical models for freezing-thawing soils. The newest SFCC methods considering abovementioned two items are not applicable to numerical models due to complex calculation or irregularly changeable parameters. To solve those problems, a simple model was proposed in this paper. Firstly, the complete phase diagram of pore solution at icing stage was speculated from published experimental SFCCs of saline soils. Then, the temperatures of saline soils at freezing and eutectic points were quantitative expressed with phase diagram of bulk solution and SFCC of nonsaline soil, and the criteria determining whether single icing stage or icing-eutectic stage occurs in saline soils was proposed. A synthetic index was used to describe the effects of soil matrix and initial solute concentration on the exponent. Only three constant parameters were introduced to reflect the soil matrix effect on phase transition points of pore solution and the influence of chemical characteristic of solute on pore water freezing process. Finally, the model was validated by the experimental data of saline soils and showed good results and ease of use compared to a widely used theorical model for saline soil with single freezing stage and other two models both considering two phase transitions. The work provides a deeper view of freezing process in saline soils and promote the improvement of numerical simulation effect for heat, water and salt migration in seasonal freezing-thawing areas.