piFreeze

piFreeze is a plug-in for FEFLOW that extends the heat transport in unsaturated flow modelling with the freezing and thawing of water depending on the temperature. Phase changes from water to ice and vice versa occur in natural groundwater systems and due to human activity. Through latent heat, influencing the effective hydraulic conductivity and affecting the thermal properties they have a major influence on both fluid flow and the temperature regime. In many practical application cases it is thus not safe to ignore them.

Typical applications

• Permafrost conditions,

• Artificial ground freezing,

• Freezing walls,

• Borehole heat exchangers at sub-zero temperatures,

• Earth collector systems,

• Thermal ice storages.

FEFLOW piFreeze supports the convenient extension of any two- or three-dimensional FEFLOW flow and transport models using Richards' equation by phase changes between water and ice.

Please contact DHI for obtaining a license for the piFreeze plug-in.