Thermal Conductivity of Granular Soil Mixtures with Contrasting Particle Shapes
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 5
Abstract
Particle shape is known to affect the mechanical behavior of sands because it influences packing density and particle contacts. Even though the thermal conductivity of sands also depends on packing density and particle contacts, the effects of particle shape on thermal conductivity are not well understood. A series of thermal needle tests were conducted on five granular soil mixtures with different proportions of rounded and angular glass particles having the same mineral composition and gradation. The maximum and minimum void ratios and the packing density of these mixtures were found to depend on the overall regularity, defined as the average value of the particle’s aspect ratio, convexity, and sphericity. For a given overall regularity, the thermal conductivity increases with decreasing void ratio or increasing relative density. Interestingly, the overall regularity has a small effect on the thermal conductivity at a given void ratio but has a significant effect on the thermal conductivity at a given relative density. A particle shape–dependent empirical equation is proposed to quantify the effects of relative density and overall regularity on the thermal conductivity of the tested sand.
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Data Availability Statement
All data and models generated and used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the 111 Project (Grant no. B13024), the National Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 41831282, 51678094, and 51578096), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant no. 2017T100681).
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 5 • May 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 13, 2019
Accepted: Nov 18, 2019
Published online: Mar 10, 2020
Published in print: May 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Aug 10, 2020
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