A Fractal Model of Effective Thermal Conductivity of Porous Materials Considering Tortuosity

Chen Zhan, Wenzhi Cui () and Longjian Li
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Chen Zhan: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China
Wenzhi Cui: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China
Longjian Li: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Accurate estimation of the thermal conductivity of porous materials is crucial for the modeling of heat transfer and energy consumption calculation in energy, aerospace, biomedicine and chemical engineering, etc. The series-parallel model is a simple and direct method and is usually used in the prediction of the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of porous materials. In this work, the weighted coefficients of the series and parallel section were obtained based on the tortuosity of the porous materials. Then, the physical model of the ETC of the porous materials was established. Furthermore, the ETC of the porous materials was developed using the fractal model to calculate the pore cross-sectional area of the porous materials. Finally, quantitative analysis of the characteristic parameters, e.g., porosity, tortuosity, tortuous fractal dimension and pore diameter distribution, of the ETC of the porous materials was conducted. The results show that the proposed model can provide an accurate prediction of the ETC of porous materials.

Keywords: thermal conductivity; porous materials; series-parallel model; tortuosity; fractal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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