A study on thermal conductivities of rocks in Korea

한국의 암석 열전도도에 관한 연구

We made 980 thermal conductivity measurements on igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, and volcanic rock samples from Korea. The average thermal conductivity of igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, and volcanic rocks are 3.41 W/m-K, 3.98 W/m-K, 4.10 W/m-K, and 3.21 W/m-K, respectively. Thermal conductivity values of a rock type generally have a wide range because thermal conductivity depends on various factors such as dominant mineral phase, micro-structure, anisotoropy and so on. Thermal properties (thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat) are important variables which are used to design a geothermal heat pump(GHP) system. Therefore, our thermal property data can contribute on a efficient design of a GHP system.