Mineral Composition Impact on the Thermal Conductivity of Granites Based on Geothermal Field Experiments in the Songliao and Gonghe Basins, China

Abstract

Accurate estimation of thermal conductivity of rocks is of paramount importance for projects such as the development of hot dry rock and the geological storage of nuclear waste. In this paper, 30 granite samples from the Songliao and Gonghe Basins in China were tested by X-ray diffraction, polarizing microscope, and Thermal Conductivity Scanning (TCS) measurements. Different mineral contents determine the thermal conductivity of the rock as a whole. The geometric average model and the harmonic average model have great limitations. Combined with the above two models, a new model is proposed for estimating the thermal conductivity, and results are less different from the measured values and have universal applicability. The relative estimation error on the thermal conductivity calculated by mineral composition is significantly reduced. The accuracy of thermal conductivity calculation can be improved by mineral composition.

Mineralogical Characterization From Geophysical Well Logs Using a Machine Learning Approach: Case Study for the Horn River Basin, Canada

“…Physical properties of rocks, especially fine‐grained sediments, are largely influenced by their mineralogical composition (e.g., thermal conductivity and mechanical properties: Birch & Clark, 1940; Brigaud & Vasseur, 1989; Dong et al., 2017; Ye et al., 2022). Estimating rock mineral composition is critical for any type of thermodynamic or mechanical modeling as it can influence, for instance, aspects such as net heat production (e.g., Yuan et al., 2023).…”

Comparing the thermal conductivity of three artificial soils under differing moisture and density conditions for use in green infrastructure

“…Analyses of soil fractions have shown sand particles tend to have higher conductivities than clay or silt, and silt particles tend to show lowest thermal conduction values (Balland & Arp, 2005; Ochsner et al, 2001). The thermal conductivity of a mineral is mainly determined by composition, with quartz having the highest conductivity of the skeleton‐forming minerals (Ye et al, 2022). Improved specification of soil in this application, therefore, has significant potential to increase the insulation capabilities offered by green infrastructure (Libessart & Kenai, 2018).…”