Ground Freezing and Sampling of Pleistocene Sand near Charleston, South Carolina
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 1
Abstract
The procedures used to freeze and sample a Pleistocene sand deposit near Charleston, South Carolina to preserve and study the effects of diagenesis are presented in this paper. Based on the results of geotechnical tests and a feasibility ground freezing study, a freezing system with a central freeze pipe was installed to target a column of clean sand 1 m in radius and 2.3 m in length. Liquid nitrogen was continuously supplied to the freeze pipe fabricated to freeze the sand between depths of 1.8 and 3.8 m below the ground surface for 270 h. Frozen sand cores taken from five locations 0.65 to 0.7 m away from the central freeze pipe indicate the ground was frozen between depths of 1.8 and 3.8 m at all but one location. Ground temperature measurements, growth of the frozen zone, and the amount of liquid nitrogen consumed are presented and compared with predicted values. Recorded temperatures indicate that the freezing was influenced by the direction of groundwater flow, the flow rate of liquid nitrogen, and the location of the liquid nitrogen inlet pipe within the central freeze pipe.
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Acknowledgments
This paper is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0751278 and Grant No. CMS-0556006. The views and conclusions contained in this paper are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the National Science Foundation. The financial support of the NSF is gratefully appreciated. The cooperation and assistance of James Rushing, George Askew, and Harold Harvey of CREC are gratefully acknowledged. The discussions on ground freezing with Dave Sego of the University of Alberta and Peter Robertson of Gregg Drilling are also greatly appreciated. Hugh Camp, Timothy Cleary, and Russell Norton of S&ME, Inc., assisted with the construction and installation of the ground freezing system.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 1 • January 2014
Pages: 185 - 193
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 27, 2012
Accepted: Jun 25, 2013
Published online: Dec 16, 2013
Published in print: Jan 1, 2014
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