PREDICTION OF EFFECTIVE THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF MOIST POROUS MATERIALS

An analysis of the effective continuous media (ECM) approach has been made for the prediction of effective thermal conductivity of moist porous materials. The validity of the expression has been tested for different types of soils saturated with different liquids having variations in liquid content and temperature. A transient method, utilising a line heat source, has been employed to measure the effective thermal conductivity. A comparison has been made between the experimental and predicted values. The model is also tested on other reported thermal conductivity values. In all the cases the developed model provides a prediction close to the effective thermal conductivity. The results are also compared with models previously developed. © 1990 IOP Publishing Ltd.