SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENT OF THE HEAT AND MASS DIFFUSIVITIES IN UNSATURATED MOIST SOILS USING CONSTANT HEAT FLUX METHOD

The simultaneous measurement of the heat and mass diffusivities in unsa-turated moist soils is presented by use of constant heat flux method. By integrating the analytical solutions of the equations governing the heat and mass transfer process in a one-dimensional semi-infinite moist soil sample under condition of constant heat flux with the measurement data of the temperature and the moisture content fields in the soil sample, the heat and mass diffutivities of the soil sample are obtained. The experimental results show that the developed method is timesaving and can determine the heat and mass diffusivities in a moist soil through only one test, resulting in significant advantages in practical applications. This method has potential applications to the determination of heat and mass diffusivities in moist soils and may provide a new way for the fast and accurate measure-ment of the heat and mass diffusivities in moist soils and other unsaturated wet porous media.