Cold Regions Science and Technology最新文献

{"title":"Experimental investigations on the mechanical behaviour of glacial tills and ice mixtures","authors":"Kai Cui ,&nbsp;Bohan Wu ,&nbsp;Xiaotong Qin ,&nbsp;Qionglin Li ,&nbsp;Zuoyu Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104561","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104561","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Glacial tills and ice mixtures (GIMs) are widely distributed in alpine mountain areas, and the mechanical behaviour of GIMs is strongly related to rock glacier-related hazards. In this study, GIMs with different ice contents were divided into three types on the basis of CT scanning tests, and a wide range of ice contents was used to conduct a series of triaxial compression tests. In addition to the stress–strain–volume relationships presented, several indices related to strength and deformation behaviours, as well as the effects of temperature and confining pressure, were investigated. The results indicate that, generally, an increase in the ice content causes a decrease in strength. However, this phenomenon differs at temperatures near 0 °C, where the strength decreases before increasing with increasing ice content. The confining pressure has different influences on the brittleness at different ice contents. As the ice content increases, the effect of temperature on the brittleness decreases. Furthermore, the maximum dilatancy ratio tends to be independent of the confining pressure and temperature for GIMs with high ice contents. The conclusions of this study can be used to understand the mechanical behaviour of GIMs and are potentially useful for predicting rock glacier-related geohazards.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104561"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An experimental and theoretical investigation of the dynamic mechanical behavior of artificial porous rock under sub-zero temperatures","authors":"Ying Xu ,&nbsp;Zhedong Xu ,&nbsp;Shaoling Zheng ,&nbsp;Bangbiao Wu ,&nbsp;Zhemin You","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104562","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104562","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In cold regions, weathered rocks are subjected to complex geological environments characterized by sub-zero temperatures and dynamic disturbances. Understanding the dynamic compressive behavior of multi-cracked rocks under real-time low-temperature conditions is essential for assessing the stability of rock engineering. To simulate weathered, multi-cracked rocks, a clay-free artificial porous rock (APR) was used as the test material. Dynamic uniaxial compression experiments were performed at five ambient temperatures using a cryogenic-dynamic loading apparatus. Complementary quasi-static experiments were also conducted for comparison. The microscopic characteristics were analyzed through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), microstructural imaging, and failure mode evaluation. The results reveal that rate dependency becomes increasingly significant as ambient temperatures decreases. Specifically, when the loading rate is below 560 GPa/s, the dynamic uniaxial compressive strength (DUCS) of APR decreases with decreasing temperature. Beyond this rate, the DUCS exhibits a negative correlation with temperature, highlighting a distinct DUCS trend for APR compared to natural porous rocks. This behavior is primarily attributed to the Stefan effect of unfrozen water and the pressure melting effect during dynamic loading. Furthermore, a dynamic constitutive model based on the classic Ashby-Sammis micromechanical framework was proposed and validated. This model provides theoretical support for predicting the service performance of rock engineering in cold regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104562"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trends in avalanche problems in the French Alps between 1958 and 2020","authors":"Benjamin Reuter ,&nbsp;Pascal Hagenmuller ,&nbsp;Nicolas Eckert","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104555","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104555","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate warming forces snow cover changes, which impact natural hazards such as avalanches. While significant changes of observed avalanche activity or runout distance could be documented and linked to climate drivers, little is known about potential changes of conditions in avalanche release areas as data are scarce. Using demonstrated methodology to simulate avalanche problems from reanalysis weather data, we assess how characteristics of avalanche danger evolved between 1958 and 2020 in typical release areas of the French Alps. During this period, the number of situations with natural release and the frequency of new snow situations did not change significantly at typical release area elevation at the scale of the French Alps. The frequency of persistent weak layer problems declined by about 3 days and the simulated onset date of wet-snow activity advanced by about 3 weeks. After a change point at the end of the 1980s, the frequency of new snow and the onset date of wet-snow situations changed significantly, and substantial differences between regions appeared, highlighting regional effects of climatic change. New snow situations increased by about 1 day in 10 years, in particular at higher elevations in the inner-Alpine climate regions and the wet-snow onset date advanced rapidly, by about 12 days in 10 years, in particular in the northern climate regions. Broad and regional patterns of change in avalanche problems are in line with documented atmospheric warming and changes in mean and extreme snowfall in the area. Our findings add to the already existing information on the response of avalanche activity to climate change, describing changes in avalanche danger at different spatio-temporal scales. Moreover, we provide a methodology amenable to other mountain areas of the world, where avalanche observations are lacking but input to snow cover modelling is available. In a logical next step this methodology will be applied to regional climate projections to assess future trends of avalanche danger characteristics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104555"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144204147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis on the cooling effect of the thermosyphon buried in the subgrade of the permafrost regions of Inner Mongolia, China","authors":"Xin Zhao ,&nbsp;Hongwei Zhang ,&nbsp;Xueying Wang ,&nbsp;Hao Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104546","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104546","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Against the backdrop of global warming, the degradation of underlying permafrost following common highway construction in the patchy permafrost regions of Inner Mongolia has led to frequent road diseases, presenting a pressing issue that demands immediate resolution. To address this problem and enhance permafrost protection, thermosyphons of various shapes were installed along the Genhe-Labudalin first-class highway. However, as the thermosyphon-equipped subgrade has been in service for more than a decade, a crucial question has emerged: what is the current cooling effect of the thermosyphon buried in subgrade, and can such the thermosyphon subgrade effectively impede the degradation of permafrost? Based on this, temperatures on the thermosyphon side wall, the subgrade and the foundation have been monitored from 2014 to 2024. The temperature distribution characteristics in the vertical, horizontal and longitudinal directions as well as over time were analyzed in detail, further revealing the cooling effect of the thermosyphon on the subgrade. The research results show that after the common highway was built, the permafrost table has reached a depth of 8–10 m, and it has been degrading year by year. However, the thermosyphon has significantly reduced the temperature of the subgrade, and the surrounding permafrost table has dropped to 1.13–4.87 m. The temperature trough of the I-shaped thermosyphon is a symmetrical V-shape, and the effective working radius and the maximum working radius are 2.5 m and 4 m. While the temperature trough of the L-shaped thermosyphon is an asymmetrical single-sided stepped shape, the subgrade temperature in the relevant area with the L-shaped thermosyphon is significantly lower than that with the I-shaped one. The research results can provide technical support for highway subgrade construction and stability assurance in patchy permafrost regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104546"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144107501","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"CFD investigations into snow loads on tandem-arranged gabled-roofed buildings under mutual interferences","authors":"Guolong Zhang ,&nbsp;Qingwen Zhang ,&nbsp;Huamei Mo ,&nbsp;Dong Guo ,&nbsp;Xudong Zhi ,&nbsp;Jinzhi Wu ,&nbsp;Feng Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104547","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104547","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gable-roofed buildings arranged in tandem layouts are prevalent in various industrial factories and warehouses. However, during extreme blizzards, these snow-sensitive roof structures frequently sustain significant damages due to mutual interferences between adjacent buildings. Regrettably, the snow load calculation methods provided by various national load codes primarily depend on the studies of snowdrifts on multiple flat roofs in built-up environments, overlooking the impact of other roof shapes on the interference effects. Therefore, this study delves into the snow loads on tandem-arranged gable-roofed buildings with diverse layouts under mutual interferences. Initially, a wind tunnel test of snowdrifts on a gable roof was carried out to validate the numerical method adopted in this study. Subsequently, a series of pre-simulations were performed to identify the key parameters essential for analyzing the interference effects. On the basis, an extensive study was carried out to investigate the interference mechanisms and snowdrift characteristics on two tandem-arranged gable roofs with different layouts. Overall, the interference effect manifests solely as the redistribution of snow on downstream gable roofs, categorizable into the sheltering effect in the downwind direction and the disturbance effect in the crosswind direction. The disturbed snow load on the downstream gable roof exhibits an overall uniform distribution pattern controlled by the sheltering effect, but locally shows erosion due to the disturbance effect. Across various building layouts, the snow loads on disturbed gable roofs display a strong linear trend with the spacing. Consequently, a calculation method for snow loads on disturbed gable roofs was finally proposed, comprehensively considering the interference effects of height differences and spacings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104547"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144115014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Experimental study on the influence of the warm-humid climate environment on the water and salt migration (WSM) and deformation of sulfate saline soil","authors":"Zhixiong Zhou ,&nbsp;Fengxi Zhou ,&nbsp;Xusheng Wan ,&nbsp;Zean Xiao","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104542","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104542","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To clarify the influence of the warm-humid climate environment on the water and salt migration (WSM) and deformation of saline soil, the climatic environment characteristics and saline soil types (sulfate saline soil) in the Hexi region of Gansu Province were taken as the background. Combined with the surface energy budget balance characteristics for the first time, the coupling change characteristics of various physical fields within the sulfate saline soil under the normal temperature, single heating effect, and warm-humid conditions were studied. Moreover, the development process of salt crust and cracks in saline soil was clarified. The results show that the single heating effect results in increased upward shortwave radiation, upward longwave radiation, and downward longwave radiation compared to the normal temperature, as well as decreased surface net radiation. Compared to the single heating effect, the warm-humid environment has little effect on upward longwave radiation, yet it reduces upward shortwave radiation and downward longwave radiation. Additionally, the single heating effect results in an overall low soil water content and conductivity, along with a high soil temperature. However, the warm-humid environment will increase the soil water content and conductivity, and reduce the shallow soil temperature. Moreover, the shallow soil temperature in the warm-humid climate environment is between the normal temperature and single heating effect. The total deformation of saline soil caused by the warm-humid environment is between the normal temperature and single heating effect. Meanwhile, the warm-humid environment will accelerate the development of salt crust and cracks of sulfate saline soil. The results can provide technical support for the engineering application and soil salinization management in salted regions under the warm-humid climate environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104542"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144067917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mechanical and micro-CT study of frost-heave in silty sands","authors":"V. Santiago Quinteros ,&nbsp;J. Antonio H. Carraro ,&nbsp;Jean-Sebastien L'Heureux ,&nbsp;Richard J. Jardine","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104544","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104544","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil freezing occurs naturally in cold regions where it affects many aspects of geotechnical practice and infrastructure. Moreover, artificial ground freezing can be used to stabilize sandy and silty soils prior sampling, but also as stabilization measure in tunnelling and open excavations. This paper reports a laboratory-based study on the frost-heave response of four silty sand soils from the Øysand Norwegian geotechnical test site. The combined effects of fines content and vertical effective stresses were investigated in a one-dimensional cell with parallel micro-computed tomography to assess the impact of a freeze-thaw cycle. As expected, the higher the fines content the higher the expansion noted on freezing and increasing the vertical effective stress reduced or eliminated frost-heave, the stress levels required to supress heave increasing with fines content. Additionally, micro-CT image analysis added important further insights and shows that freezing may disturb the soil fabric, even when the resulting global strains are too small to measure by conventional means (using an LVDT). The experiments provided crucial evidence regarding the circumstances under which ground freezing could be an effective aid to low-disturbance sampling in silty sands and provides useful information for other geocryological engineering applications in such strata.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104544"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identification of joint probability distribution for thermal parameters of warm frozen clay with incomplete probability information","authors":"Hao Li ,&nbsp;Tao Wang ,&nbsp;Yonglin Feng ,&nbsp;Jiazeng Cao ,&nbsp;Yutong Song ,&nbsp;Guoqing Zhou ,&nbsp;Weifeng Wan","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104543","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104543","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The thermal properties of warm frozen clay are easily affected by temperature factors, and the number of field measured data is limited. The thermal parameter distribution model constructed by ignoring the influence of temperature factors and small sample characteristic factors is not applicable to all situations. Therefore, this study studies the measured data of thermal parameters of warm frozen clay under different temperature conditions. Firstly, a binary frozen soil thermal parameter correlation structure characterization method is proposed based on Copula theory. Based on the measured data, the Bootstrap method is used to simulate the variability of small samples to determine the best fitting edge distribution and Copula function under different temperature conditions. Secondly, a joint probability distribution model is constructed based on the best fitting function. Finally, the fitting degree of the model is evaluated by the goodness of fit test. The results show that the distribution characteristics of thermal parameters of warm frozen clay under different temperatures are not consistent. The bivariate joint distribution model identified by the Bootstrap method can better characterize the correlation structure of thermal parameters</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104543"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144068523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A two-dimensional coupled energy-mass transfer model for simulating rain-on-snow load dynamics on roofs","authors":"Qingwen Zhang ,&nbsp;Diwas Bajracharya","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104541","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104541","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate changes have led to an increase in the frequency and severity of rain-on-snow (ROS) events, risking structural safety with increasing roof snow loads. These events involve melting, freezing, and compaction induced by water infiltration in roof snowpacks. Existing models assume snow as a homogeneous medium with uniform ROS load distribution while ignoring critical phenomena like phase changes, heterogeneity, and evolution of snowpack's properties that alter water retention in snow. Although snow load is adjusted based on slope and roof geometry, these adjustments are not considered for ROS surcharge load. A two-dimensional coupled energy-mass (EM) transfer model using the Multi-point Flux Approximation method (MPFA) is employed to simulate ROS load on sloped roofs along with heat exchange, melting, refreezing, and compaction effects. Compared to simplified mass transfer models, the EM transfer model exhibits superior predictive capabilities when evaluated against experimental results. Although melting and compaction significantly increased the density, reducing porosity and permeability, the melted water accelerated saturation at the bottom boundary, enabling quicker outflow conditions. A non-uniform triangular water retention pattern at the lower roof edge was observed in both models, suggesting that heterogeneity has minimal impact on the water retention profile. Under the studied ROS load conditions, the ROS load at the roof edge is 1.6 times the overall ROS load due to non-uniform water retention. The study highlights the inadequacy of existing design code as the design ROS load is inapplicable to the studied ROS condition, despite localized loads being close to design ROS load (0.38 kN/m²).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"238 ","pages":"Article 104541"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A simple lab screening test to evaluate ice adhesion","authors":"Paloma Garcia ,&nbsp;Julio Mora ,&nbsp;Alina Agüero","doi":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104539","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104539","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ice formation is a major problem for many sectors such as aeronautics, power generation, maritime, communications, etc. and therefore, there is a growing demand for anti-icing surface modification technologies.</div><div>Being able to compare and evaluate these materials at the laboratory scale is a challenge for which a unified response has not yet been given. There are no standards for evaluating icephobicity despite the fact that there are numerous studies focused on the influence of the surface topography on the wetting behavior. In addition, several testing options have been published both for the evaluation of ice accretion, mainly focused on ice wind tunnels (IWT), and on ice to substrate adhesion, as for instance the zero degree cone test, DLST, Cantilever, centrifugal tests, etc.</div><div>This article describes a method developed to carry out a simple screening evaluation of ice adhesion by the double lap shear test (DLST) method. This technique can provide qualitative ice adhesion information and is commonly available in research laboratories. Moreover, it does not require icing wing tunnel testing. Its ease of execution and reproducibility makes it a useful tool for a first stage evaluation of anti-icing surfaces despite the fact that ice is formed under static conditions. Various materials and surface finished surfaces with different degree of ice adhesion strength were evaluated and were also tested in a centrifugal adhesion test with ice accreted in an IWT. The results showed that the DLST is valid for ice adhesion classification of materials, but shows limitations for those superhydrophobic materials that are in the Cassie-Baxter state.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10522,"journal":{"name":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","volume":"237 ","pages":"Article 104539"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143912343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}