Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 1999
The generalized impedances allow to characterize a one-way thermal system whose two faces are accessible. From experimental measurements of the flux densities and variations in temperature in the access faces of a homogeneous material, the two generalized impedances of storage and transfer are calculated in the frequential field. The theory of the thermal quadripole enables to determine a theoretical expression of these impedances. After a sensitivity study which underlines the accessible parameters and the optimal frequency band, an optimization procedure of the setting of the ideal model of one of the two impedances on the corresponding experimental curve allows to identify the effusivity and the thermal diffusivity of material. The method is applied to the study of a sand with three water contents.