Simplified Determination of Thermal Properties for Moist and Porous Materials

Measurement of Thermal Properties of Compost

Abstract

A simplified method was devised for measuring thermal properties of moist and porous materials like compost or soil. The proposed thermal probe method has a merit of rapid determination of both thermal conductivity and diffusivity simultaneously with simple equipment within 6% relative error.
We measured thermal properties of compost (mixed with dairy cattle solid manure and saw dust) with this equipment. The thermal conductivity and diffusivity were 0.0508W·m^-1·K^-1, 0.975×10^-7m²·s^-1 (0%w. b., 20°C), and 0.0956W·m^-1·K^-1, 0.967×10^-7m²·s^-1 (57.1%w. b., 20°C), respectively.