Journal of Cold Regions Engineering

The performance of passive heat removal devices (thermosyphons) in an experimental installation at the Bethel airport in Alaska is analyzed using the soil temperatures surrounding the units. Temperatures covering a four‐year span of operation from 1982 to 1987 are used. System operation theory and methods for resolving conflicting data are presented. Performance effectiveness criteria are suggested and units are evaluated against this criteria.

Geosynthetics can be used to support road embankments over voids. This report briefly summarizes a mathematical model developed to design such a system and presents the results of a series of field tests performed to verify the mathematical model. The theoretical model is easy to use, but it involves an iterative solution, so it is best suited to computer solution. Use of the mathematical model indicates that voids on the order of 3 m or more can be supported on commercially available geosynthetics. The field tests had voids up to 1.8 m wide. Performance of the embankment surface under traffic loading was basically the same over the voids and between the voids, indicating that paving the surface may be a viable option.

Sublimation of pore ice in frozen silt when excavating in permafrost is a serious engineering health and safety problem due to the release of resulting dust. As part of a continuing effort to develop guidelines for mining and construction in cold weather environment, a study of the relationship between sublimation of fine‐grained frozen soil and various factors such as the water content of the silt, the relative humidity, and the ambient temperature of air has been investigated. Of these factors, ambient air temperature is found to be most important. The relationships of the variables correlate to a power model, which describes a gradual decrease of the sublimation rate as the heat‐and‐mass transformation proceeds. A graphic solution is presented from which an estimate of the amount of ice susceptible to sublimation can be made based upon temperature, water content, relative humidity, and time.