Experimental Thermal Diffusivities/Conductivities of Frozen Media through Stefan Problem Simulation

An experimental apparatus to perform soil-freezing experiments on liquid-sand systems is described. Temperature measurements along the specimen are carried out during the freezing, and the liquid content distribution is measured with the gravimetric method at the end of the process. Water and tert-amyl alcohol are used as liquids in the saturated sand. A liquid layer is maintained on top of the sand to provide a liquid reservoir. Some experiments have been done to reproduce the “Stefan problem”. From the relation between freezing front penetration and time, the thermal diffusivity has been evaluated. The thermal conductivity obtained is in agreement with the measurements performed on the same sand with the transient thermal probe method.