Thermal conductivity measurements of liquids with transient hot-bridge method

Abstract

In this paper an electro-thermal method is used for measuring the thermal conductivity of liquids. This technique is based on eight heat sensing resistors which are connected to form a Wheatstone bridge. Measurements performed on several liquids covering a wide range of thermal properties validate the method. The total standard uncertainty of the experimental results was estimated to be less than 3.8 %. Good agreement is found between the measured values of the thermal properties and previously reported values in literature. Moreover, measurements using this method are less time consuming than using the classical methods. This technique may find practical application for the thermal characterization of complex fluids even when applying external electric or magnetic fields.