# Study of the Effect of Cutting Frozen Soils on the Supports of Above-Ground Trunk Pipelines
## 4 Conclusions  
Most prior scientific research has been dedicated to enhancing the understanding of cryogenic ground frost heave during the operation of aboveground trunk pipelines and the creation of pipeline support structures in areas of permafrost. However, there are no existing studies that specifically address the stability of pipelines under the influence of frost heave forces. The unique aspect of this research lies in the development of a novel pipeline support design, which has practical implications for the operation of aboveground main pipelines with stability issues. Specifically, it considers the determination of soil fracture stresses based on the type and temperature of rocks interacting with the support slab of the proposed design in regions with seasonal thawing and freezing. The design presented in this paper integrates multiple aspects of trunk pipeline operation, enabling the prediction of support displacement. This study draws the following conclusions:  
* The design of the support system was developed based on the soil characteristics and the loads on both the pipeline and bloated soil sides, taking into account the processes of cryogenic soil swelling and laboratory results obtained through the method of single-plane shear over the freezing surface. The soil fracture stresses were determined by varying the sharp edge of the base plate and the physical characteristics of frost-heave soil.
* As the soil temperature decreases due to the freezing of bound water during the support operation, the soil fracture stress begins to increase throughout the process. The optimal load on the support from the pipeline side is suggested to be determined at the point where the soil fracture stress starts to fracture.
* Numerical calculations for the proposed model of the support slab with frozen soil were performed using experimental data to determine the dependence on frozen soil load. The results showed that as the ground temperature decreases from \(-4\)\({}^{\circ}\)C to \(-10\)\({}^{\circ}\)C, the ground fracture stress increases. Hence, to effectively cut the ground with the sharp edge of the base plate, it is necessary to increase the load from the pipeline as the ground temperature decreases. The correlation between the numerical and experimental results was found to be good, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed design for aboveground pipeline support.
* The feasibility of applying the developed support design to a wider range of pipelines in Arctic regions will be assessed in future research. Furthermore, to enhance the accuracy of the model for predicting support stability loss, the scope of the study will be expanded by considering additional factors that impact support stability, such as the spring stiffness factor of the support damper element and its relationship with low-temperature characteristics and soil strength limit.  
Conceptualization, I.A.S., A.M.B. and D.I.S.; methodology, I.A.S. and A.M.B.; software, A.M.B.; validation, I.A.S., A.M.B., D.I.S. and T.V.N.; formal analysis, I.A.S., A.M.B. and D.I.S.; investigation, I.A.S., A.M.B., D.I.S. and T.V.N.; resources, A.M.B. and D.I.S.; data curation, A.M.B.; writing--original draft preparation, A.M.B. and T.V.N.; writing--review and editing, I.A.S., A.M.B. and T.V.N.; visualization, I.A.S. and A.M.B.; supervision, I.A.S. and A.M.B.; project administration, I.A.S., A.M.B. and D.I.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research received no external funding.  
Not applicable.