Predicting the thermal conductivity of unsaturated soils considering wetting behavior: A meso‑scale study

•The meso‑structural model of unsaturated soils with three phases is reasonably reconstructed in a finite-element model based on the identified meso‑structure characteristics.•The wetting behavior between soil particles and water is effectively considered in the reconstructed meso‑structural model.•The finite-element method and the Monte Carlo simulation are coupled to account for the randomness in the characteristics of geomaterials.•Parametric analyses are conducted to investigate the effects of solid type, porosity, degree of saturation, and hydrophilia on the thermal conductivity of unsaturated soils. Unsaturated soils are three-phase porous materials that consist of the solid phase, the liquid phase and the gas phase. While accurate predictions to the thermal conductivity of unsaturated soils are crucial for the analysis and design of geothermal systems, the distribution characteristics of the different phases can also significantly affect the thermal performance. In addition, the fact that soils are heterogeneous materials also adds to the challenges in the evaluation of the thermal conductivity of unsaturated soils. In this paper, a methodology is proposed to calculate the thermal conductivity of unsaturated soils. This methodology starts from identifying representative soil parameters based on microscopy images of soil specimens. The meso‑structures that consist of the different phases are then reconstructed in a finite-element model based on the identified characteristics. The Monte-Carlo-based finite-element analyses are then carried out to calculate the thermal conductivity of unsaturated soils while considering the wetting behavior between the solid and liquid phases, which is characterized using the hydrophilia coefficient. After validating the methodology using both the experimental and numerical results reported in the literature, a parametric analysis is conducted. The results indicate that a high quartz content improves the heat transfer, but the quartz content does not affect the heat transfer skeleton. Furthermore, an increase in the solid content and degree of saturation results in an increase in the density of the heat transfer skeleton, which leads to enhanced heat transfer efficiency. A reduction in the hydrophilia coefficient and the formation of liquid-bridges have a similar effect. Last, the effects of wetting are more evident in soils with high porosity and a low degree of saturation.