Experimental Investigations on the State-Dependent Thermal Conductivity of Sand-Rubber Mixtures
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 3
Abstract
Soil-rubber mixtures are potential construction materials for use in civil engineering applications such as the thermal insulation layer for buried pipelines in the permafrost zone and underground energy storage systems. Currently, however, the thermal conductivity of soil-rubber mixtures in various stress, saturation, and void ratio conditions is not fully understood. In this study, a stress-controlled apparatus based on the thermal needle probe technique was developed. It was employed to study the influence of the aforementioned factors on the thermal conductivity of sand-rubber mixtures. Thirty-four tests were completed with a wide range of net stresses (), initial degrees of saturation (0%–100%), void ratios (0.45–0.95), and rubber contents (0%, 10%, and 20%). Three replicates were used in each condition. The results showed that the thermal conductivity was strongly dependent not only on void ratio, rubber content, and degree of saturation but also on net stress. For instance, the thermal conductivity of a dry sand-rubber mixture increased by 30% when the stress increased from 0 to 600 kPa. This increase in thermal conductivity can mainly be attributed to an increase in interparticle contact area, accounting for about 25% of the 30% increase; the reduction in void ratio played a minor role. A semiempirical equation was proposed to calculate the thermal conductivity of sand-rubber mixtures at different stress levels.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China through the research Grant No. 52022004. The authors also would like to thank the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for providing financial support through Grant Nos. 16216116 and AoE/E-603/18.
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 3 • March 2022
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 25, 2021
Accepted: Aug 3, 2021
Published online: Dec 29, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2022
Discussion open until: May 29, 2022
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