In: Other
Suppose you’re building a vacation cottage up in the Rocky Mountains and you are concerned about the depth at which a new water line should be buried to avoid freezing during the cold winter weather. The soil there is dry and homogenous with a thermal diffusivity of 0.02 ft2/hr and a thermal conductivity of0.48 Btu/ ft hr °F . Suppose the initial temperature is 45 °F everywhere. At t=0, a very strong cold front moves in and the ambient temperature drops to –15 °F, and remains there for 48 hrs. How deep should the water line be so that the soil around the pipe does not fall below 30 °F during this period? Also, what is the heat flux at that depth at t=48 hrs?