Thermal diffusivity of artificial soils at the Moscow State University Soil Station

Abstract

Abstract This study presents the thermal diffusivity vs. water content curves for topsoil, peat, sand and their mixture used to construct the artificial layered soils at the Moscow State University Soil Station. The thermal diffusivity of studied samples varied in a wide range between 9.2×10−8 m2 s−1 for air-dry peat and 9.6×10−7 m2 s−1 for wet sand. The smallest values of thermal diffusivity were obtained for peat, the greatest ones – for sand, and the topsoil demonstrated medium values of thermal diffusivity.