Computational thermo-hydro-mechanics for multiphase freezing and thawing porous media in the finite deformation range

• A finite strain formulation for frozen porous media based on multiplicative kinematics is presented.
• The stabilization procedure and pre-conditioner for the three-phase frozen soil are adopted.
• Nonlocal diffusion-deformation coupling effects during freezing and thawing are analyzed.

A stabilized thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) finite element model is introduced to investigate the freeze–thaw action of frozen porous media in the finite deformation range. By applying the mixture theory, frozen soil is idealized as a composite consisting of three phases, i.e., solid grain, unfrozen water and ice crystal. A generalized hardening rule at finite strain is adopted to replicate how the elasto-plastic responses and critical state evolve under the influence of phase transitions and heat transfer. The enhanced particle interlocking and ice strengthening during the freezing processes and the thawing-induced consolidation at the geometrical nonlinear regimes are both replicated in numerical examples. The numerical issues due to lack of two-fold inf–sup condition and ill-conditioning of the system of equations are addressed. Numerical examples for engineering applications at cold region are analyzed via the proposed model to predict the impacts of changing climate on infrastructure at cold regions.