Thermal conductivity of WFS-FA-EPS mixture subjected to frost action

Abstract

Thermal conductivity is one of critical parameters with regards to an anti-frost fill. This study presented the effects of mixing ratio and frost action on the thermal conductivity of a newly developed antifrost fill, which comprises mixture of waste foundry sand (WFS), fly ash (FA), expandable polystyrene (EPS) beads, Portland cement and water. Test results show that the increase of EPS, FA or cement results in the decrease of mixture thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity of the mixture is favorably less than that of conventional geomaterial, which leads the mixture an attractive geomaterial if frost mitigation is desirable.