Journal Published Online: 13 October 2014
Volume 37, Issue 6

Three Laboratory Methods for Measuring Thermal Resistivity Dryout Curves of Coarse-Grained Soils

CODEN: GTJODJ

Abstract

Thermal resistivity dryout curves (TRDCs) are measured for twelve sandy soils representing a range of grain characteristics and grain size distribution. Experiments are conducted using three laboratory methods for comparison: (i) an instrumented hanging column apparatus for concurrent measurement of the TRDC and soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) during drainage, (ii) a staged-drying method involving a single specimen subject to discrete drying increments in a 50°C oven, and (iii) a multiple-specimen method involving compaction of multiple specimens prepared at different water contents for independent thermal resistivity measurements. TRDCs obtained using the three methods were comparable (within ∼10 %). The instrumented hanging column method produces the most robust TRDCs, but potentially overestimates thermal resistivity at relatively high saturations. The staged-drying method may produce slightly lower resistivity due to elevated soil temperature at the time of the measurement. The multiple-specimen and staged-drying methods potentially overestimate thermal resistivity at low saturation due to contact resistance and sample disturbance resulting from probe insertion and removal. TRDCs using the multiple-specimen, staged-drying, and hanging column method were obtained in about 1 day, 10 days, and 23 days, respectively.

Author Information

Yao, Jun
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, US
Oh, Hyunjun
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, US
Likos, William
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, US
Tinjum, James
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, US
Pages: 13
Price: $25.00
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Details
Stock #: GTJ20140120
ISSN: 0149-6115
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ20140120