Determination of thermal diffusivity of soil using infrared thermal imaging

Despite its use in several fields, infrared thermal imaging is not yet commonly used in investigations of temperature-related problems in geotechnical engineering. This study provides a new approach to determining the thermal diffusivity of soil, using infrared thermal imaging under controlled laboratory conditions. Subject to one-dimensional heat flow conditions, an axial heat flow method is used to back-calculate the soil thermal diffusivity. The method has been applied on four compacted kaolin soil beams in transient conditions to back-calculate the thermal diffusivity of the soil. Reasonable agreement has been obtained between back-calculated and estimated thermal diffusivity values of kaolin. The study highlights the potential of use of thermal imaging for geotechnical applications.