Determination of Thermal Conductivity Properties of Coastal Soils for GSHPs and Energy Geostructure Applications in Mexico

Norma Patricia López-Acosta, Alan Igor Zaragoza-Cardiel and David Francisco Barba-Galdámez
Additional contact information
Norma Patricia López-Acosta: Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Alan Igor Zaragoza-Cardiel: Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
David Francisco Barba-Galdámez: Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: The thermal conductivity of soils is a fundamental parameter for the design of ground-source heat pump systems (GSHPs) and energy geostructures. This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of the physical, mineralogical, and thermal characteristics of typical coastal soils from Tabasco, Mexico. Twenty-five soil samples from four different strata were studied using the thermal needle probe method, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and standard geotechnical soil classification tests. The results showed a significant correlation between the dry density and porosity with the thermal conductivity of the studied samples, which ranged between 1.17 and 2.32 W m −1 K −1 . The performed statistical analyses indicated that coarse-grained soils had larger thermal conductivities and higher variability than fine-grained soils. Additionally, the performance of six models to estimate the thermal conductivity of soils was validated against the experimental data. All models provided accurate estimations for fine-grained soils, but only the effective medium theory (EMT) showed an adequate fit for coarse-grained soils. The results represent one of the first datasets for the thermal properties of Mexican soils. They will contribute to the implementation of GSHPs and energy geostructures in the country and locations with similar subsoil conditions, especially where time and resources are not available for their experimental determination.

Keywords: thermal conductivity; heat transfer; soil characterization; ground-source heat pumps; energy geostructures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5479/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5479/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:17:p:5479-:d:627895

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().