Development of an enthalpy‐based frozen soil model and its validation in a cold region in China

An enthalpy‐based frozen soil model was developed for the simulation of water and energy transfer in cold regions. To simulate the soil freezing/thawing processes stably and efficiently, a three‐step algorithm was applied to solve the nonlinear governing equations: (1) a thermal diffusion equation w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Atmospheres 2016-05, Vol.121 (10), p.5259-5280
Main Authors: Bao, Huiyi, Koike, Toshio, Yang, Kun, Wang, Lei, Shrestha, Maheswor, Lawford, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Algorithms
Cold regions
Computer simulation
Conduction heating
Conductive heat transfer
Critical temperature
Diffusion layers
Energy transfer
Enthalpy
Freeze thaw cycles
Freeze-thawing
Freezing
Frozen ground
frozen soil
Frozen soil effects
Geophysics
Heat conduction
Heat transfer
Hydrologic processes
Hydrology
Ice
Ice formation
Land surface models
Latent heat
Latent heat release
Liquid water content
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Melting
modeling
Modelling
Moisture content
Parameterization
Permafrost
phase change
Simulation
Soil
Soil (material)
Soil freezing
Soil layers
Soil temperature
Soil water movement
Soils
Surface boundary layer
Surface layers
Temperature
Thawing
Thermal diffusion
Thermal properties
Thermodynamic properties
Thickness
Water content
Water depth
Water flow
Water masses
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Summary:An enthalpy‐based frozen soil model was developed for the simulation of water and energy transfer in cold regions. To simulate the soil freezing/thawing processes stably and efficiently, a three‐step algorithm was applied to solve the nonlinear governing equations: (1) a thermal diffusion equation was implemented to simulate the heat conduction between soil layers; (2) a freezing/thawing scheme used a critical temperature criterion to judge the phase status and introduced enthalpy and total water mass into freezing depression equation to represent ice formation/melt and corresponding latent heat release/absorption; and (3) a water flow scheme was employed to describe the liquid movement within frozen soil. In addition, a parameterization set of hydraulic and thermal properties was updated by considering the frozen soil effect. The performance of the frozen soil model was validated at point scale in a typical mountainous permafrost basin of China. An ice profile initialization method is proposed for permafrost modeling. Results show that the model can achieve a convergent solution at a time step of hourly and a surface layer thickness of centimeters that are typically used in current land surface models. The simulated profiles of soil temperature, liquid water content, ice content and thawing front depth are in good agreement with the observations and the characteristics of permafrost. The model is capable of continuously reproducing the diurnal and seasonal freeze‐thaw cycle and simulating frozen soil hydrological processes. Key Points An enthalpy‐based frozen soil model was developed to simulate freezing/thawing processes efficiently The frozen soil model was validated against soil observations from a permafrost station The model simulation is in good agreement with the observed soil freezing/thawing characteristics
ISSN:2169-897X
2169-8996
DOI:10.1002/2015JD024451