68th Canadian Geotechnical Conference and 7th Canadian Permafrost Conference

GEOTECHNICAL DESIGN OF THERMOPILE FOUNDATION FOR A BUILDING IN INUVIK

Session: Foundations in Cold Regions / Fondations en régions nordiques

Guangwen (Gordon) Zhang, Tetra Tech EBA (Canada)
Ed Hoeve, Tetra Tech EBA (Canada)

A thermopile foundation has been designed for a new building in Inuvik. Challenging geotechnical ground conditions at the site include an up to 3 m thick unfrozen zone (closed talik) below the active layer, up to 10 m thick ice and ice-rich soils, and warm permafrost temperatures. A set of geothermal analyses were carried out to estimate the building foundation ground temperatures with depth and time under normal working conditions of the thermopiles and climatic conditions considering projected climate changes over the building design life of 50 years. Geotechnical evaluations were conducted to estimate the required pile embedment depths in consideration of specified pile long-term creep settlement criteria and design criteria against potential frost jacking. A total of three design groups of the thermopiles were recommended for the building foundation.