Ensuring the Sustainability of Arctic Industrial Facilities under Conditions of Global Climate Change

Abstract

Global climate change poses a challenge to the mineral development industry in the Arctic regions. Civil and industrial buildings designed and constructed without consideration of warming factors are beginning to collapse due to changes in the permafrost structure. St. Petersburg Mining University is developing technical and technological solutions for the construction of remote Arctic facilities and a methodology for their design based on physical and mathematical predictive modeling. The article presents the results of modeling the thermal regimes of permafrost soils in conditions of thermal influence of piles and proposes measures that allow a timely response to the loss of bearing capacity of piles. Designing pile foundations following the methodology proposed in the article to reduce the risks from global climate change will ensure the stability of remote Arctic facilities located in the zone of permafrost spreading.

Keywords

• Arctic shelf
• permafrost
• global warming
• ground thawing
• modular pile foundation
• physical and mathematical modeling