Artificial ground freezing: How to model and calculate the frost-heave?

In the Netherlands the cross passages in the Westerscheldetunnel were built by using artificial ground freezing. In order to know the behaviour of frozen soil, measurements were made around some cross passages and some frost-heave and triaxial experiments were carried out. To explain the results of the experiments and later the measurements a two dimensional numeric model is developed. This model can describe both the heat conduction, the water flow and the deformation of the soil. In this paper both the model and the problems with modelling frost-heave experiments are described. The results of the calculations are compared with the experiments and these correspond very well. To analyze a cross passage in the Westerscheldetunnel a three dimensional model is required which will be developed in the future.