Thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions in porous media: implications on thermo-active retaining walls

Thermo-active structures exchange heat with the ground to provide thermal energy to buildings. Consequently, the ground is subjected to changes in temperature, inducing thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) interactions within the soil. To provide insights into the origin and manifestations of the main mechanisms taking place in complex fully THM-coupled finite element (FE) analyses, simple, one-dimensional problems are firstly analysed in this paper and compared to analytical expressions developed for determining thermally-induced excess pore water pressures in undrained problems with different displacement restraints. Subsequently, various dimensionless parameters are established to evaluate the impact of varying ground properties on the observed THM interactions and their evolution with time. Finally, the findings from simple one-dimensional problems are verified in the context of THM modelling of thermo-active retaining walls, where the structural response of walls is shown to be highly transient and influenced by different phenomena prevailing over different periods involving thermal expansion of soils, volumetric deformations due to pore water generation and dissipation, and interactions with mechanical boundary conditions. The results also highlight the importance of performing fully coupled THM analyses and of a correct estimation of the hydraulic and thermal properties to guarantee a safe design of thermo-active structures.