Impact of Layered Soil on Foundation Heat Transfer for Slab-On Grade Floors

This paper presents an analytical solution for the steady-periodic heat transfer for a typical slab-on-grade floor building foundation beneath non-homogeneous soil medium. The impact of the above-grade walls on ground-coupled heat transfer is accounted for in the presented solution. The Inter-zone Temperature Estimation Profile (ITPE) technique is utilized to obtain the 3-D solutions to determine soil temperature distributions and to estimate foundation heat loss/gain from slab-on-grade floors. The impact of the non-homogeneous soil properties on the transient foundation heat transfer is investigated for various slab configurations and soil thermal properties.