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Journal of Geotechnical Engineering

VARIATION OF THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY WITH POROSITY

  1. Carlos Armenta-Deu
  2. Leticia Bottazzi

Abstract

Thermal conductivity in porous media as a function of the grain size and porosity has been studied establishing a relation between these two parameters. The study has been developed for a homogeneous porous medium with grain size in a very close range of particle diameter. The study has been extended from very small particles to large ones, to cover most of the real grain size. As a result of this study porous medium with homogeneous mineralogical structure and composition has been thermally characterized. The performance of this porous medium as for the heat flow is concerned has also been studied and analysed as one of the goals of this paper. Results have shown that thermal conductivity is greatly influence by porosity in porous media, thus affecting the heat transfer flow, which may affect civil structures in close contact with the porous media.The study has shown a very good agreement between predicted values and experimental result, which proves the validity of the study.

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