A Simple Method to Measure the Thermal Conductivity of a Compressed Earth Brick

In this study, a simple method for measuring the thermal conductivity of a compressed earth brick is presented. The principle of the method is based on the measurement of the temperature on one side of the brick while the opposite side is subject to a constant density of heat flux. Five thermocouples were placed on each side to monitor the temperatures on both sides of the brick. A numerical model of heat transfer by single-dimensional conduction at transient speed is developed to calculate the temperature at any point in the brick. The estimation of thermal conductivity is carried out by an inverse technique to reduce the difference between the measured and calculated temperature profiles respectively. The proposed method is validated by direct measurement of thermal conductivity by the hot disk technique TPS 1500. The obtained results showed that the developed device enables the measurement of the thermal conductivity with good precision.