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Measurement of the Transport Coefficients for Coupled Flow of Heat and Moisture in a Medium Sand
Author(s) -
Jury W. A.,
Miller E. E.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1974.03615995003800040013x
Subject(s) - thermal diffusivity , moisture , water content , saturation (graph theory) , thermal conductivity , soil science , thermodynamics , environmental science , materials science , geotechnical engineering , geology , physics , mathematics , combinatorics , composite material
A two‐column experiment was designed to measure the primary and cross‐coupling transport coefficients for the simultaneous flow of heat and moisture through a medium sand (Plainfield sand) in the liquid‐dominated regime of moisture flow. Values for the moisture diffusivity and thermal conductivity were obtained in the range from 20% to 90% of saturation. Thermal conductivity values fell within ± 7% of a curve calculated by the method of de Vries. In addition, the coefficient for transport of heat under gradients of moisture content was found to be zero within the accuracy of the experiment. The experiment was not sufficiently accurate to yield quantitative estimates of the coefficient for transport of moisture by temperature gradients, so a different experiment was performed to measure this coefficient indirectly. In this latter experiment the dependence of soil water potential upon temperature was found to be as much as five times larger than predicted by the surface tension model used by Philip and de Vries. These large values suggest that thermal effects should be considered for long‐term movement of soil moisture, and perhaps in certain circumstances for shorter term simulations in moist soil.