A methodology to determine soil moisture movement due to thermal gradients

摘要

Moisture and heat migration through the soil mass is an important consideration for the safety of electrical gadgets buried in the soil mass. Continuous passage of current through these gadgets increases their temperature, which may result in redistribution or migration of the moisture in the surrounding soil mass. Excessive changes in the soil moisture may lead to its thermal instability, which may also affect the current carrying capacity of the electrical gadgets. To avoid such a situation, estimation of moisture movement under an imposed thermal gradient becomes essential. With this in view, an attempt has been made in this paper to study the influence of thermal gradient on moisture migration through the soil mass. Usefulness of an insertion tensiometer has been demonstrated, for this purpose, when the soil water characteristic curve, SWCC, for the soil is already established. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. [References: 29]