An experimental method to determine the thermal conductivity of concrete

Abstract

This paper reports an experimental method developed to measure the thermal conductivity of concrete. This method involves the measurement of steady state temperature distribution across a cylindrical specimen of concrete under known heat flux supplied at the centre of the specimen by a heating coil. It was observed that the thermal conductivity of concrete varies across the section of the specimen and also with the age of concrete. The variation of conductivity across the section may be due to the non-uniform distribution of free water and hydrated products. This idea was verified by conducting the test with a dry mixture of cement, sand and aggregate. It was observed that the thermal conductivity of the dry mix was very low and it did not vary across the section as the composition of the materials was uniform across the section.