Sensitivity of Soil Coupled Heat and Mass Transfer Governing Equations to Hydraulic and Thermal Conductivities

A pressure-based coupled heat and mass transfer model was used to simulate temperature and soil suction in a drying process within a clay soil column. Closed form functions were used for all parameters needed in the governing equations. Model predictions were compared with experimental data using the mean relative percentage deviation method. Thermocouples and mini-gypsum blocks were used to monitor the data collected hourly at different depths of the soil column. The model showed very high sensitivity to the proposed hydraulic conductivity function, while lower sensitivity was found for the proposed thermal conductivity function. This result highlights the importance of a proper hydraulic conductivity estimate while a rough estimate for thermal conductivity would have no significant adverse effect on the predicted values