Gradation-Dependent Thermal Conductivity of Sands
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 9
Abstract
Although thermal conductivity is a widely applied parameter in geotechnical engineering, the effect of soil gradation on the thermal conductivity is not well understood. Thermal needle tests were performed to analyze the influence of gradation on the thermal conductivity of carbonate sands. The thermal conductivity of carbonate sand specimens having different gradations prepared to three void ratios was observed to increase with uniformity coefficient or fractal dimension. Although an increase in void ratio leads to a decrease in thermal conductivity, the percent difference in thermal conductivity is independent of the initial void ratio. A maximum increase in thermal conductivity of 13.9% was observed for uniformity coefficients ranging from 2 to 20. Empirical equations using the uniformity coefficient are proposed to quantify the gradation-dependent thermal conductivity of carbonate sand for use in the design of insulating layers.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from the 111 Project (Grant No. B13024), the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51509024 and 51678094), and the Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2016M590864). The last author acknowledges support from NSF (Grant No. CMMI 1230237).
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 9 • September 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 21, 2017
Accepted: Apr 2, 2018
Published online: Jun 27, 2018
Published in print: Sep 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Nov 27, 2018
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