Model test on cooling performance of a new method for mitigating permafrost thaw around buried oil pipeline

• DOI: 10.1016/j.csite.2024.104581
• Publication Date: 2024-05-23T18:58:41Z
• Authors: Zhaoyu Chen; Guoyu Li; Wei Ma; Yongting Huang; Fei Wang; Yanhu Mu; Alexander Fedorov
• Keywords: Seasonal air-cooled embankment; Thaw bulb; Water migration; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Direct-buried warm pipeline; 02 engineering and technology; TA1-2040; Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General); Permafrost thawing

Buried pipelines have been widely used to transport petroleum-based products over long distances in permafrost regions. Field observations reveal that they are endangered by rapid thawing and resulting massive soil movements, despite adopting some measures protect pipeline foundation permafrost. A new mitigation technique is proposed slow down the ulteriorly. With this technique, a seasonal air-cooled embankment (SACE), mainly composed of crushed rock layer, supports transfers heat from ambient air cold seasons. scale model test with controlled oil temperatures was carried out evaluate measure. The temperature volumetric unfrozen water content subgrade beneath both SACE direct-buried pipeline, as well ground surface displacements, were measured during whole testing process. comparison hydrothermal process under warm indicates measure can substantially mitigate controlling geothermal regimes pipeline.