Analytical Solutions for Heat Transfer in Saturated Soil with Effective Porosity
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 9
Abstract
Closed-form analytical solutions are presented for one-dimensional heat transfer through saturated soil with effective porosity and steady fluid flow. The solutions yield distributions of temperature and total heat flux for both transient and steady-state conditions within a soil block having constant temperature boundaries. The analysis adopts a series–parallel approach for heat transfer and accounts for advection, conduction, and thermal mechanical dispersion assuming local thermal equilibrium between solid and fluid phases. Solutions are first developed and experimental data are provided to highlight the significance of effective porosity with regard to soil thermal conductivity. Numeric examples are presented to illustrate the effects of the thermal Peclet number, thermal dispersivity, and effective porosity on heat transfer behavior. Depending on conditions, each parameter can affect heat transfer in saturated soil significantly. The solutions also demonstrate the requisite uniqueness when cast in terms of dimensionless parameters.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (data).
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this investigation was provided by Grant No. CMMI-1622781 from the US National Science Foundation and is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 9 • September 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 16, 2019
Accepted: Apr 3, 2020
Published online: Jul 10, 2020
Published in print: Sep 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Dec 10, 2020
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