Derivation of Heat Conductivity from Temperature and Heat Flux Measurements in Soil

Victor Stepanenko, Irina Repina and Arseniy Artamonov
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Victor Stepanenko: Research Computing Center, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia
Irina Repina: Research Computing Center, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia
Arseniy Artamonov: Scientific and Educational Centre “Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change”, Yugra State University, 628012 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: The general inverse problem formulation for a heat conductance equation is adopted for the types of measurement routinely carried out in the soil active layer. The problem solution delivers a constant thermal diffusivity coefficient a 0 (in general, different from true value a ) and respective heat conductivity λ 0 for the layer, located between two temperature sensors and equipped with a temperature or heat flux sensor in the middle. We estimated the error of solution corresponding to systematic shifts in sensor readings and mislocation of sensors in the soil column. This estimation was carried out by a series of numerical experiments using boundary conditions from observations on Mukhrino wetland (Western Siberia, Russia), performed in summer, 2019. Numerical results were corroborated by analytical estimates of inverse problem solution sensitivity derived from classical Fourier law. The main finding states that heat conductivity error due to systematic shifts in temperature measurements become negligible when using long temperature series, whereas the relative error of a is approximately twice the relative error of sensor depth. The error a 0 − a induced by heat flux plate displacement from expected depth is 3–5 times less than the same displacement of thermometers, which makes the requirements for heat flux installation less rigid. However, the relative errors of heat flux observation typical for modern sensors (±15%) cause the uncertainty of a above 15% in absolute value. Comparison of the inverse problem solution to a estimated from in situ moss sampling on Mukhrino wetland proves the feasibility of the method and corroborates the conclusions of the error sensitivity study.

Keywords: moss layer; heat conduction; inverse problems; measurement errors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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