The pulse-probe method of conductivity measurement

Summary

An alternative to the steady heating of a cylindrical probe, in the ‘needle-probe’ method of conductivity measurement, is the observation of the thermal decay from a short, calibrated, heat pulse. The theoretical solution is the time-differential of that for the former method, and requires only the measurement of point temperatures rather than the determination of a gradient. A careful analysis of the theoretical decay function shows that it should be possible to make accurate conductivity measurements in as little as three probe ‘time constants’ if external information is available on the heat capacity of the medium. A self-contained method, using two temperature determinations from a record about six time-constants long, can be used where such information is not available. The theory was tested by measurements on the ocean-floor, and the data correspond to the theory when a correction was applied for some internal probe conduction problems.