On the measurement of the thermal conductivities of rocks by observations on a divided bar apparatus

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Abstract
Rapid techniques for the preparation of disks of rock and for the determination of rock conductivities have been used to make a large number of measurements on both coarsegrained and fine‐grained rocks. Methods in which either sets of disks or single disks can be used are described and the mean values of conductivity found by combining the results in various ways are compared. The modes of the rocks were found by examination of thin sections for the fine‐grained rocks and by examination of each disk for the coarse‐grained rocks. Conductivities computed from the modes by the method of Birch and Clark are compared with the experimentally determined conductivities. The significance of rock structure in the selection of representative specimens and the effect of moisture content in porous rocks is discussed. The work indicates that, at least for the coarse‐grained rocks, the usefulness of the conductivities obtained from divided bar measurements can be seriously questioned, and that the usual methods of saturating porous rocks are not wholly satisfactory.

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