scholarly journals On the use of heated needle probes for measuring snow thermal conductivity

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Kévin Fourteau ◽  
Pascal Hagenmuller ◽  
Jacques Roulle ◽  
Florent Domine

Abstract Heated needle probes provide the most convenient method to measure snow thermal conductivity. Recent studies have suggested that this method underestimates snow thermal conductivity; however the reasons for this discrepancy have not been elucidated. We show that it originates from the fact that, while the theory behind the method assumes that the measurements reach a logarithmic regime, this regime is not reached within the standard measurement procedure. Using the needle probe without this logarithmic regime leads to thermal conductivity underestimations of tens of percents. Moreover, we show that the poor thermal contact between the probe and the snow due to insertion damages results in a further underestimation. Thus, we encourage the use of fixed needle probes, set up before the snow season and buried under snowfalls, rather than hand-inserted probes. Finally, we propose a method to correct the measurements performed with such fixed needle probes buried in snow. This correction is based on a lookup table, derived specifically for the Hukseflux TP02 needle probe model, frequently used in snow studies. Comparison between corrected measurements and independent estimations of snow thermal conductivity obtained with numerical simulations shows an overall improvement of the needle probe values after application of the correction.

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Łydżba ◽  
Adrian Różański ◽  
Magdalena Rajczakowska ◽  
Damian Stefaniuk

Abstract The needle probe test, as a thermal conductivity measurement method, has become very popular in recent years. In the present study, the efficiency of this methodology, for the case of composite materials, is investigated based on the numerical simulations. The material under study is a two-phase composite with periodic microstructure of “matrix-inclusion” type. Two-scale analysis, incorporating micromechanics approach, is performed. First, the effective thermal conductivity of the composite considered is found by the solution of the appropriate boundary value problem stated for the single unit cell. Next, numerical simulations of the needle probe test are carried out. In this case, two different locations of the measuring sensor are considered. It is shown that the “equivalent” conductivity, derived from the probe test, is strongly affected by the location of the sensor. Moreover, comparing the results obtained for different scales, one can notice that the “equivalent” conductivity cannot be interpreted as the effective one for the composites considered. Hence, a crude approximation of the effective property is proposed based on the volume fractions of constituents and the equivalent conductivities derived from different sensor locations.


Geophysics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 1580-1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tien‐Chang Lee ◽  
Thomas L. Henyey ◽  
Brian N. Damiata

We present a method for absolute measurement of thermal conductivity of drill cuttings. The simplicity of the apparatus makes it suitable for nondestructive use of cuttings and for sample sizes too small to be measured with a needle probe. Because the measurement is absolute, no calibration standards are required. Samples are placed in a Plexiglas cup with a lid containing an electric heat source. The base of the cup is placed in good thermal contact with an aluminum‐block heat sink. Upward and radial heat losses are minimized with styrofoam insulation surrounding the cup. The accuracy of the method was estimated by cross‐measurement of selected samples with a well‐calibrated needle probe. Results indicate that errors in measurement are less than 5 percent for sample conductivities greater than 0.8 W/m ⋅ K if the heat loss through the styrofoam insulation is accounted for. Reproducibility is typically within 3 percent. An axisymmetric finite‐element model which simulates the temperature distribution of the measurement apparatus further demonstrates its viability.


Small ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 2102128
Author(s):  
Taehun Kim ◽  
Seongkyun Kim ◽  
Eungchul Kim ◽  
Taesung Kim ◽  
Jungwan Cho ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 875608792110260
Author(s):  
ME Ismail ◽  
MM Awad ◽  
AM Hamed ◽  
MY Abdelaal ◽  
EB Zeidan

This study experimentally and numerically investigates a typical HDPE blown film production process cooled via a single-lip air-ring. The processing observations are considered for the proposed subsequent modifications on the air-ring design and the location relative to the die to generate a radial jet, directly impinging on the bubble. Measurements are performed to collect the actual operating parameters to set up the numerical simulations. The radiation heat transfer and the polymer phase change are considered in the numerical simulations. The velocity profile at the air-ring upper-lip is measured via a five-hole Pitot tube to compare with the numerical results. The comparison between the measurements and the numerical results showed that the simulations with the STD [Formula: see text] turbulence model are more accurate with a minimum relative absolute error (RAE) of 1.6%. The numerical results indicate that the peak Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) at the impingement point for the modified design with radial jet and longer upper-lip is 29.1% higher than the original design at the same conditions. Besides, increasing the air-ring upper-lip height increased the averaged HTC, which is 13.4% higher than the original design.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1838
Author(s):  
Shi-Yi Qiu ◽  
Chen-Wu Wu ◽  
Chen-Guang Huang ◽  
Yue Ma ◽  
Hong-Bo Guo

Microstructure dependence of effective thermal conductivity of the coating was investigated to optimize the thermal insulation of columnar structure electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD coating), considering constraints by mechanical stress. First, a three-dimensional finite element model of multiple columnar structure was established to involve thermal contact resistance across the interfaces between the adjacent columnar structures. Then, the mathematical formula of each structural parameter was derived to demonstrate the numerical outcome and predict the effective thermal conductivity. After that, the heat conduction characteristics of the columnar structured coating was analyzed to reveal the dependence of the effective thermal conductivity of the thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) on its microstructure characteristics, including the column diameter, the thickness of coating, the ratio of the height of fine column to coarse column and the inclination angle of columns. Finally, the influence of each microstructural parameter on the mechanical stress of the TBCs was studied by a mathematic model, and the optimization of the inclination angle was proposed, considering the thermal insulation and mechanical stress of the coating.


2003 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 427-428
Author(s):  
D. Molteni ◽  
F. Fauci ◽  
G. Gerardi ◽  
M. A. Valenza

Results of 3D numerical simulations of the gas transfer in close binary systems show that it is possible the production of accretion streams having low specific angular momentum in a region close to the accreting star. These streams are mainly placed above the orbital disc. The eventual formation of such bulges and shock heated flows is interesting in the context of advection dominated solutions and for the explanation of spectral properties of the Black Hole candidates in binary systems. We set up a parallelized version of 3D S.P.H. code, using domain decomposion. with increasing spatial resolution around the compact star.


A series of experiments has been performed to study the steady flow of heat in liquid helium in tubes of diameter 0.05 to 1.0 cm at temperatures between 0.25 and 0.7 °K. The results are interpreted in terms of the flow of a gas of phonons, in which the mean free path λ varies with temperature, and may be either greater or less than the diameter of the tube d . When λ ≫ d the flow is limited by the scattering of the phonons at the walls, and the effect of the surface has been studied, but when λ ≪ d viscous flow is set up in which the measured thermal conductivity is increased above that for wall scattering. This behaviour is very similar to that observed in the flow of gases at low pressures, and by applying kinetic theory to the problem it can be shown that the mean free path of the phonons characterizing viscosity can be expressed by the empirical relation λ = 3.8 x 10 -3 T -4.3 cm. This result is inconsistent with the temperature dependence of λ as T -9 predicted theoretically by Landau & Khalatnikov (1949).


Author(s):  
Odne S. Burheim ◽  
Jon G. Pharoah ◽  
Hannah Lampert ◽  
Preben J. S. Vie ◽  
Signe Kjelstrup

We report the through-plane thermal conductivities of the several widely used carbon porous transport layers (PTLs) and their thermal contact resistance to an aluminum polarization plate. We report these values both for wet and dry samples and at different compaction pressures. We show that depending on the type of PTL and the existence of residual water, the thermal conductivity of the materials varies from 0.15 W K−1 m−1 to 1.6 W K−1 m−1, one order of magnitude. This behavior is the same for the contact resistance varying from 0.8 m2 K W−1 to 11×10−4 m2 K W−1. For dry PTLs, the thermal conductivity decreases with increasing polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) content and increases with residual water. These effects are explained by the behavior of air, water, and PTFE in between the PTL fibers. It is also found that Toray papers of differing thickness exhibit different thermal conductivities.


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