Potential Applications of Phase Change Materials to Extend the Winter Construction Time of Earth-Rock Dam in Cold Regions

Abstract

During earth-rock dam construction, temperature control to reduce the freeze–thaw impact on core-wall clay in cold regions is difficult. To address this challenge, this research developed a phase change material (PCM) incorporated into clay (PCM-clay) to improve the construction efficiency in a cold period. In the preparation of PCM-clay, considerable latent heat was stored by harvesting thermal energy from the environment, which was used for temperature control to extend the winter construction time. The feasibility of PCM-clay as core-wall clay was verified by an analysis of working performance. The results indicate that low-content PCM-clay (7%) is able to protect core-wall clay from freeze–thaw damage in a simulated environment (minimum temperature=−4.3°C) in a 1-day cycle. The working performance (e.g., shear strength and impermeability) supports that PCM-clay is a promising solution for temperature control of core-wall clay during earth-rock dam construction in cold regions.