Thermophysical Analysis of Sandstone by Pulse Transient Method

Stones belong to porous materials where water in pores plays an important role during the freeze–thaw process. A thermophysical analysis based on the pulse transient method has been used to study an ageing cycle, namely the freeze–thaw cycle. Thermophysical analysis is based on measuring the thermophysical properties under specific thermodynamic conditions. The transient method determines the specific heat, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity by a single measurement. A specimen of Sander sandstone was analyzed in both dry and water-saturated states. Typical anomalies of all thermophysical parameters at the freeze–thaw point as well as differences for the dry and saturated states were found. The changes of thermophysical parameters measured when using freeze–thaw cycles correspond to stone ageing. The freeze–thaw cycle can often be encountered in building physics, concrete construction, etcPaper presented at the Seventh Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference, August 23–28, 2004, Hefei and Huangshan, Anhui, P. R. China.