Numerical Simulation of the Freezing Process in a Moist Soil

A numerical method is implemented for the solution of the unsteady three-dimensional heat transfer problem in moist soils with consideration of phase transitions in a region of subzero temperatures. The corresponding numerical model takes into account the physical nonlinearity of the soil. For the description of phase transitions in frozen soils, a model that consists of the four characteristic temperature zones where the basic thermodynamic soil parameters vary according to certain laws is used. The numerical simulation is carried out using a finite element method to discretize the boundary value problem in space and a finite difference scheme to discretize it in time. The obtained numerical solutions are compared with the analytical solutions to the Stefan problem.