New correlations for seawater and pure water thermal conductivity at different temperatures and salinities Original Research Article

The thermal conductivity of natural seawater is measured at atmospheric pressure, temperature range of 10–90 °C, and salinity range of 0–120 g/kg. Samples of natural seawater is collected from the Arabian Gulf and prepared for different salinities by evaporation and dilution techniques. The experimental apparatus used in the measurements is a modified comparative radial-heat-flow concentric-cylinder apparatus that uses a steady state measurement technique. The method gives the ratio of the thermal conductivity of pure water to that of seawater. A simple correlation for the pure water thermal conductivity is developed based on the model provided by The International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS 2011) and has a maximum deviation of 0.05%. A simple model for the thermal conductivity ratio of pure water to seawater is developed and compared with the measured data, data in the literature, and a recent theoretical model for mixed-solvent electrolyte solutions. The maximum deviation between the present model prediction and the measurement is ± 1% while the maximum deviation from the recent theoretical model is found to be 0.5%.