Temperature variations in unfrozen soils with variable hydrothermal properties

Abstract

SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the hydrothermal properties of soil is required to model heat distribution in unsaturated soils. In this study, we aim to model heat distribution throughout the profile of unfrozen soil while its thermal diffusivity varies with time and depth. The proposed model is based on the fundamental solution of the one‐dimensional transient heat conduction equation using the decomposition method. We calibrate our model using experimental data from soils of different textures in the literature. The new model can estimate soil thermal diffusivity at different depths and times and uses easily accessible characteristics such as the degree of saturation and the texture of the soil. In this study, the performance of the new model is compared to the performance of the simplified model in which constant thermal diffusivity is considered throughout the profile. Moreover, the model is validated by comparing it with in‐situ temperature measurements within depth of soil profiles with different textures. The results show a very good agreement between the predicted and the measured temperature throughout the soil profiles. Such a validation shows that with increasing degree of soil saturation, depletions in temperature for fine‐textured soils are more significant than those for coarse‐textured soils. Finally, the new model is applied to a double‐layer soil in the Alsace region to define temperature variation in the profile of soil with different characteristics in each layer. For a double‐layer profile, the continuity of the temperature as well as the heat flux is verified at the interface between the two layers.