Construction pits

Benefits

Any ground condition

Ground freezing works in all kinds of soil, independent of grain size distribution, permeability, and water content. It works in soils, such as moraine, glacifluvial deposits, peat, landfills and rocks of various quality. This makes freezing work equally well for transition zones between soil and rock and for soil containing block and boulders, with a 100 % waterproof result.

100 % waterproof

• Full control of water inside and outside the Geofrost walls.
• No wash out of fines with corresponding risk for instability and sink holes.
• No leakage leading to pore pressure reduction and settlements.
• No need for water infiltration and associated risk.
• No extra sealing with cement or chemicals.
• No influence zone outside the frost construction.
• The earth support is installed from above groundwater level and is compeletly waterproof at start of excavation.

Efficient excavation to significant depth

The Geofrost wall's capacity is increased by increasing thickness, enabling great depths without stiffeners or anchors. The construction pit walls are ready when excavation starts, enabling continuous excavation and reduced construction time.

Free geometry

The freezing pipes are freely positioned, with any inclination, so the earth support gets the desired shape; as long as you can drill, you can freeze. Although the freezing pipes are placed individually, a continuous construction is established between them. The frozen body can therefore easily be established across railway tracks, pipes and cables and provide a waterproof sealing around bodies crossing through the wall. The Geofrost wall also becomes waterproof towards uneven surfaces of materials such as rock, steel, wood, concrete, plastic, etc.

Moderate energy consumption

Production of construction materials requires energy, either if it is freezing soil or it is producing steel or concrete. A comparison between sheet piles and Geofrost walls shows that the energy consumed by freezing over half a year is equivalent to just producing the steel for GU6N sheet piles. Almost two years of freezing is equivalent to producing the steel for AZ48 sheet piles. Comparing pile wall of steel pipes, Ø406x10mm, freezing can last nearly 3 years before consuming the same amount of energy.

Low CO2 footprint

Ground freezing has generally a low CO2 footprint. If Geofrost earth support is used in a project in Norway for one year, the CO2 footprint will be reduced by 80 % compared to a sheet pile wall of the type AZ-48 or equivalent.