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Frost 3D software allows you to develop scientific models of permafrost thermal regimes under the thermal influence of pipelines, production wells, hydraulic constructions etc., taking into account the thermal stabilization of the ground. The software package is based on ten years’ experience in the field of programming, computational geometry, numerical methods, 3D visualization and parallelizationOverview

Frost 3D software allows you to develop scientific models of permafrost thermal regimes under the thermal influence of pipelines, production wells, hydraulic constructions etc., taking into account the thermal stabilization of the ground. The software package is based on ten years’ experience in the field of programming, computational geometry, numerical methods, 3D visualization and parallelization of computational algorithms.

Frost 3D is certified in the Russian Federation and complies with international standards:

  • RSN 67-87
  • SP 25.13330.2012
  • SP 36.13330.2012
  • SP 47.13330.2012
  • SP 50.13330.2012
  • SP 23-101-2004
  • SP 61.13330.2012
  • SP 41-103-2000
  • SP 116.13330.2012
  • SP 11-105-97
  • STO Gazprom 2-2.1-390-2009
  • STO Gazprom 2-2.1-435-2010
  • GOST R ISO 9127-94
  • GOST R ISO/IEC 12119-2000

Frost 3D numerical methods was verified against the exact analytical solutions and experimental data.

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows 10
CPU: Intel, AMD 64-bit architecture
RAM: 2 GB and more
VGA: NVIDIA, Intel, AMD with OpenGL 4.0 support
HDD: 5 GB of free space for software installation
Additional software: Microsoft Office
Internet access required (for trial versions)

Explore Frost 3D

1. Create the computational domain with initial and boundary conditions.

Computational domain with initial and boundary conditions

2. Automatically generate the computational mesh.

3D computational mesh generation

3. Library of materials, physical properties and boundary conditions.

Library of Materials, Physical Properties and Boundary Conditions

Specify heat transfer conditions

4. Review the resulting distribution analysis of three-dimensional temperatures, ice content and filtration flows.

Temperature distribution analysis

5. Analyze section data.

Section data analysis

Frost 3D Conference Demonstration

Frost 3D Demonstration (Oct 16, 2014)

Frost 3D Mathematical Models

Frost 3D Main Features

  • Creation of 3D computational domain with surface topography and soil lithology;
  • 3D reconstruction of pipelines, boreholes, basements and foundations of buildings;
  • Import of 3D objects including Wavefront (OBJ), StereoLitho (STL), 3D Studio Max (3DS) and Frost 3D Objects (F3O);
  • Library of thermophysical properties of the ground, building elements, climatic factors and the parameters of cooling units;
  • Specification of thermal and hydrological properties of 3D objects and heat transfer parameters on the surfaces of objects;
  • Simulation of the temperature and unfrozen water content distribution in the computational domain with phase transition and convective heat transfer;
  • Simulation of ground water filtration;
  • 3D visualization of thermal fields, unfrozen water content and ground water filtration speed in dynamics;
  • Visualization of the thermal fields and unfrozen water content in the form of isolines and as color distribution of sections;
  • Features the ability to build graphical dependencies for temperature and unfrozen moisture content change on coordinates or time.

Initial data for thermal analysis:

1) Initial data for 3D geometrical model creation:

a) geological soil structure;

b) project drawing, location of heat-insulation materials.

2) Thermophysical properties of soils: thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity in thawed and frozen state, density, freezing point, total gravimetric soil moisture (over all types of soil water), dependence of moisture content on temperature.

3) Thermal conductivity, heat capacity and construction material density, including insulation materials.

4) Initial vertical temperature distribution in the ground (monitoring well log).

5) Meteorological data: air temperature variation, wind speed, changes in snow cover thickness (in cases, when it is necessary to take into account the snow cover effect).

6) Hydrogeological properties of saturated ground with an unknown groundwater level and filtration velocities:

a) Dependence of the groundwater level on time;

b) The values of filtration coefficient.

Cooling units location during thermal stabilisation

Ground cooling with cooling units

3D computational domain model

3D computational domain model

Temperature distribution in the form of isolines

Temperature distribution in the form of isolines

Temperature distribution (plane y=0)

Temperature distribution (plane y=0)

Мoisture content (plane y=0)

Мoisture content (plane y=0)

Advantages of Frost 3D

  • It is based on modern scientific achievements in numerical methods and mathematical simulation of heat-and-mass transfer processes in the ground;
  • Frost 3D computational algorithms are parallelized for multi-core, 64-bit CPU and GPU architecture, offering a tenfold increase in computational speed with respect to sequential computational algorithms;
  • It is a unique software solution that can simulate permafrost thermal stabilization processes with cooling devices;
  • It allows you to make long-term predictions of permafrost thawing across large computational domains (kilometers);
  • It takes into account the influence of snow-depth dynamics and the intensity of solar radiation on ground temperature;
  • Thermophysical properties and heat transfer conditions can be changed during the computation process;
  • Simulation of ground water flow;
  • Takes into account convective heat transfers due to groundwater flow.

Frost 3D versions

Frost 3D version

Main Features

Recommended Hardware Configuration

Single-core CPU Student

Max number of cells in computational mesh is 0.1 million. 2 GB RAM required for max computational mesh. Computation is processed on a single core CPU. Without technical support. 1. OS: Windows 10

2. CPU: Intel, AMD 64x-architecture

3. RAM: 2 GB and more

4. VGA: NVIDIA, Intel, AMD
OpenGL 4.0 support,
video memory 512 MB and more

Single-core CPU Economy

Max number of cells in computational mesh is 1 million. 4 GB RAM required for max computational mesh. Computation is processed on a single core CPU. 1. OS: Windows 10

2. CPU: Intel, AMD 64x-architecture

3. RAM: 4 GB and more

4. VGA: NVIDIA, Intel, AMD
OpenGL 4.0 support,
video memory 1 GB and more

Multicore CPU Standard

Max number of cells in computational mesh is 7 million. 8 GB RAM required for max computational mesh.
Up to 8x * acceleration (depending on the number of cores in the CPU), compared with a single core CPU version. With Filtration Module.
1. OS: Windows 10

2. CPU: Intel, AMD 64x-architecture

3. RAM: 8 GB and more

4. VGA: NVIDIA, Intel, AMD
OpenGL 4.0 support,
video memory 1 GB and more

Multicore CPU Unlimited

Max number of cells in computational mesh is unlimited.
32 GB RAM for computational mesh with 50 million cells. For display of similar calculations the recommended memory size of VGA is 4 GB.
Up to 8x* acceleration (depending on the number of cores in the CPU) compared with a single core CPU version.
1. OS: Windows 10

2. CPU: Intel, AMD 64x-architecture

3. RAM: 16 GB and more

4. VGA: NVIDIA, Intel, AMD
OpenGL 4.0 support,
video memory 4 GB and more

Multicore GPU

Max number of cells in computational mesh is 100 million (12 GB RAM required). Up to 58 million cells are guaranteed (https://frost3d.ru/eng/pipeline-permafrost/).
Up to 46x* acceleration, compared with a single core CPU version.
1. OS: Windows 10

2. CPU: Intel, AMD 64x-architecture

3. RAM: 16 GB and more

4. VGA: NVIDIA GeForce GT(X)
700/900/1000/2000 series and more,
4 GB and more of video memory

* with optimal parameters for the numerical solver, such as: multiplicity of mesh cells and computational cores, mesh uniformity, conformity of thermo-physical properties of materials and the number of boundary conditions.

More about Frost 3D versions:

Choosing the Right Frost 3D Version and Hardware
Frost 3D Versions: Comparing CPU vs GPU
Frost 3D Meshing Solutions

More about the mathematical substantiation of the methods used in Frost 3D can be found here.

Video presentations of Frost 3D at the “Earth Cryology: XXI Century” international conference is possibly here.

Today, Frost 3D is the fastest and most precise solver of heat transfer problems with phase transitions!

Examples of Projects