Chapters authored
Effect of Ice and Hydrate Formation on Thermal Conductivity of Sediments
Thermal conductivity of ice- and hydrate-bearing fine-grained porous sediments (soils) has multiple controls: mineralogy, particle size, and physical properties of soil matrix; type, saturation, thermal state, and salinity of pore fluids; and pressure and temperature. Experiments show that sediments generally increase in thermal conductivity upon freezing. The increase is primarily due to fourfold difference between thermal conductivity of ice and water (~2.23 against ~0.6 W/(m·K)) and is controlled by physicochemical processes in freezing sediments. Thermal conductivity of frozen soils mainly depends on lithology, salinity, organic matter content, and absolute negative temperature, which affect the amount of residual liquid phase (unfrozen water). It commonly decreases as soil contains more unfrozen water, in the fining series ‘fine sand – silty sand – sandy clay – clay’, as well as at increasing temperatures, salinity, or organic carbon contents. According to experimental evidence, the behavior of thermal conductivity in hydrate-bearing sediments strongly depends on conditions of pore hydrate formation. It is higher when pore hydrates form at positive temperatures (t > 0оC) than in the case of hydrate formation in frozen samples. Freezing and thawing of hydrate-bearing sediments above the equilibrium pressure reduces their thermal conductivity due to additional hydrate formation.
Part of the book: Impact of Thermal Conductivity on Energy Technologies