Thermal Conductivities of Remolded and Undisturbed Loess
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31, Issue 2
Abstract
The thermal conductivity of soil is an important parameter in many engineering problems involving heat transfer, such as in ground source heat pump systems and freeze-thaw prevention projects. In these projects, not only must the undisturbed soils be accounted for, but the disturbed soils, such as the backfill, should be as well. In the present work, the thermal conductivities of remolded loess and undisturbed loess were tested. A model was then selected to predict the thermal conductivity of remolded loess. Finally, the thermal conductivities of remolded loess specimens were compared with those of their corresponding undisturbed loess specimens. The results showed that the thermal conductivities of the remolded loess and undisturbed loess were both increased as water content increased. The thermal conductivity of remolded loess increased as the dry density increased, but the thermal conductivity of undisturbed loess with a lower dry density was not always lower than that of undisturbed loess with higher dry density at a similar degree of saturation. The thermal conductivity of undisturbed loess was always larger than that of remolded loess when the two types of soils possessed the same degree of saturation and dry density.
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Acknowledgments
This project is supported by “Measurement of Thermal Properties of Surrounding Soils of Lanzhou Subway and Research of Their Engineering Application (2015-3-110)” funded by the Lanzhou Science and Technology Bureau.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 2 • February 2019
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 21, 2017
Accepted: Aug 7, 2018
Published online: Nov 28, 2018
Published in print: Feb 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Apr 28, 2019
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