Heat and moisture transport in wet cork slabs under temperature gradients

Heat and moisture transport in 2–5 mm coarse grade monolithic cork slabs was studied at near ambient temperature conditions with various concentrations of moisture in them. It is observed that the apparent thermal conductivity increases by approximately 60% compared to dry state when the cork is saturated with water. For the sample chosen, the saturation moisture content is 42.5% on dry mass basis and the void volume is 9.6%. An empirical correlation is proposed for the evaluation of the thermal conductivity under various mass and volume fractions of moisture based on the mixing rules for thermal conductivity of dry cork and that of liquid water.