Ground freezing
Frost all year round.
In addition to standard specialist civil engineering procedures, here at Stump-Franki we also offer a range of specialised solutions. These solutions are required when other methods would fail to achieve the desired results or result in excessive environmental impact, or where we wish to avoid permanent subsoil contamination by introduced substances, for environmental or other reasons.
Ground freezing is one such solution offered by our specialists. The “frost procedure” can be used as a temporary construction aid for pipe driving or tunnelling. This can be flexibly implemented for the temporary stabilisation of loose or solid rock. Freezing techniques can be used to make support rings for tunnelling and provide sealing or support solutions for a variety of construction projects. The temporary nature of the freeze means that no contaminating traces are left behind in the soil.
Two different procedures and cooling agents are commonly used to freeze the soil:
- Ground freezing using liquid nitrogen applied via a freeze pipe or freeze lance inserted into the soil.
- Ground freezing using brine, an aqueous salt solution, which is pumped into the desired area through a freeze pipe.
We use temperature sensors embedded in the soil to continuously monitor the subsoil freezing process in order to control the development of frozen area.