Effect of Compaction and Moisture Content on Specific Heat and Thermal Capacity of Soils

Laboratory studies were conducted to investigate the effect of moisture content and compaction on the specific heat and thermal compacity of soils. A theoretical relation between thermal capacity and moisture content was derived and tested experimentally. Thermal capacity of moist soil was found to be a linear function of moisture content for sandy as well as clay soils. Compaction appeared to have no significant effect on specific heat of the soils. However, volumetric thermal capacity increased with moisture content.