Title: APPARENT THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY IN SOIL: ESTIMATION FROM THERMAL RECORDS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR NUMERICAL MODELING
Abstract: The concept of apparent thermal diffusivity in soil is discussed and defined as consisting of an intrinsic and a pseudo part. A method that uses a numerical model of heat conduction and measured soil temperatures to estimate apparent thermal diffusivity is introduced. The method requires measurement of temperatures at three depths to make an estimate for diffusivity between the lowest and uppermost depths. This method is applied to a five-day data set obtained in Sweden. Time-dependent apparent diffusivities are estimated for periods of five days, one day, and three hours. An empirical method is used to determine the intrinsic diffusivity. Values close to those calculated for the empirical relationships have been obtained for the one- and five-day periods, whereas values of the three-hour period show wider variation. The results indicate that the outlined method is feasible and satisfactory for estimating the intrinsic thermal diffusivity in soils near the surface on a daily basis. It also is argued that the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of a simulation using the estimated diffusivity, together with the diffusivity, is a better indicator for non-conductive processes than diffusivity alone.
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 18
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