Thermophysical Characterization of Granite, Basalt and Marble Ornamental Stones in Benin

This work aims to evaluate the thermophysical characteristics of local ornamental stones in order to facilitate their choice as efficient flooring materials. Methodology: Three varieties of the most known and requested ornamental stones on the market which include granite, marble and basalt extracted from the Beninese ground and subjected to asymmetric hot plane method to determine their thermal effusivity, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and volumetric heat capacity. The parallelepiped-shaped samples of 10 cm × 10 cm × 3 cm were performed for measurements. The followings are the results of the different rocks studied: granite (3.220.01 W.m⎻1.K⎻1, 2470.510.006 J.m⎻1.K⎻1.s⎻1/2, 1.700.01μm².s⎻1, 1892.886.86 KJ.K⎻1.m⎻3); marble (4.940.02 W.m⎻1.K⎻1, 3416.340.009 J.m⎻1.K⎻1.s⎻1/2, 2.090.01 μm².s⎻1, 2362.737.90 KJ.K⎻1.m⎻3) and basalt (3.850.008 W.m⎻1.K⎻1, 2744.220.004 J.m⎻1.K⎻1.s⎻1/2, 1.9670.008 μm².s⎻1, 1956.494.07 KJ.K⎻1.m⎻3). Therefore granite is more insulating and marble has better ability to store heat.