A physical model experiment for investigating into temperature redistribution in surrounding rock of permafrost tunnel

Abstract The temperature distribution is one of the most important issues which should be considered in permafrost tunnel design. In order to investigate the influence of temperature disturbance caused by construction and boundary temperature on temperature distribution of surrounding rock in permafrost tunnel, a physical model experiment had been completed. A heater was working for half an hour to simulate the heat which was from construction. Both the inner face of tunnel and model top were exposed to air of test box. The results showed that the boundary conditions were successfully set up. The non-uniform force would act on support structure of tunnel because there were not uniform temperature distributions near the tunnel. The temperature distributions near the tunnel also would be affected by the temperature of ground surface if there is an enough small buried depth. In addition, the heat should be prevented to store in surrounding rock. Speeding up construction and installing reasonable insulation layer may be the effective methods. The results would contribute to understand frost damages mechanism and provide help for permafrost tunnel researches and design.