Abstract:
The thermal conductivity of fine-grained soil, both unreinforced and reinforced with randomly oriented
basalt, glass, and steel fibers, was tested by means of the transient hot-wire method with a Quickline-30
Thermal Properties Analyzer. The thermal conductivities of specimens were determined as a function of
fiber volume fractions, freeze-thaw cycles, and temperature through laboratory studies. Thermal conductivity
of the fiber-reinforced soil decreased for all freeze-thaw cycles and temperature values. The most
remarkable reduction of thermal conductivity was measured on all ratios of the steel fiber-reinforced soil
and 1% basalt fiber-reinforced soil. Moreover, the statistical-physical model proposed by Usowicz was
applied to evaluate the thermal conductivity of fiber-reinforced soil by considering soil-fiber composites
and environmental factors. The results showed a close match between the values estimated by the
statistical-physical model and the experimental values for various fiber-reinforced soils in a wide range
of fiber ratios, temperatures, water contents, and freeze-thaw cycles.
