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A new coupled heat, moisture and air transfer model in unsaturated soil

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Abstract

After a spacious research and consideration on various approaches of thermal coupled formulations in porous media, a new mathematical form of coupled heat, moisture, and air transfer in unsaturated soil is proposed upon taking the effect of combined volumetric moisture content and temperature gradients and air pressure changes. In this matter, in the convective flows through the unsaturated heated soil, the effects of sensible and latent heat of vapor are also composed with the water and dry air fluxes. Thus in this aspect, some new material parameters are defined for the derived equations, which are related to thermodynamic specifications of soil and the soil-water characteristic curve. After that, the application of the model is presented with a numerical example of a ground heat exchanger which is buried in the earth vertically. It could be considered as an interior heating source which operates in extracting saved energy from the earth or emitting heat to the ground. Then, by using some thermal graphs, the influence of the different operating ratio is investigated which are compared with the full operating mode at all times. Meanwhile, the mode1 is verified by comparing its results against those established by other researchers. By the results, it was found that the volumetric water content and specific heat capacity are the main factors could be effective to generate directly the thermal and isothermal diffusivities and conductivities in terms of the thermodynamic properties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Khaje Nasirodin Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hossein Jahangir & Seyed Amirodin Sadrnejad

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  1. Mohammad Hossein Jahangir
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  2. Seyed Amirodin Sadrnejad
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Correspondence to Mohammad Hossein Jahangir.

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Recommended by Associate Editor Jun Sang Park

Mohammad Hossein Jahangir is a Ph.D student of civil engineering at Khaje Nasirodine Toosi University of Technology in Tehran. His scientific interests are in heat and mass transfer, thermal science, thermodynamics in unsaturated soils, numerical methods and earthquake engineering. He Published more than 20 papers in international scientific journals and conferences since 2008 up to now. Mr. Jahangir is a chartered senior engineer, a fellow of the Iranian Inventors Association, a member in good standing of Iranian Society of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers.

Seyed Amirodin Sadrnejad graduated at Cardiff College, University of Wales, in civil and geo-environmental engineering (1986), and got his Ph.D in 1989 on Finite Elements Methods and Geomechanics. Professor Sadrnejad is currently one of the members for the geotechnical engineering of Khaje Nasirodine Toosi University of Technology in Tehran. His research interests are in the areas of numerical methods, nanotechnology in civil engineering, geomechanics and hydraulic structures. He is the author or coauthor of over 200 scientific publications and 10 books, reviewer of many international journals in civil engineering, editor of several conference proceeding and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Civil Engineering published by ISCE.

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Jahangir, M.H., Sadrnejad, S.A. A new coupled heat, moisture and air transfer model in unsaturated soil. J Mech Sci Technol 26, 3661–3672 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0839-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0839-z

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