Mathematical Expressions for Prediction of the Effective Thermal Conductivity of Perfectly Packed Two-phase Mixtures

Paper in proceeding, 2023

This paper introduces new and handy mathematical expressions for predicting and understanding the effective thermal conductivity of two-phase homogeneous mixtures. In a two-phase mixture, particles of the dispersed phase are mixed in the matrix of the second phase. A primary purpose of the proposed model is to predict and understand the effective thermal conductivity of high porous thermal insulation materials, for which many other similar analytical models offer less accuracy. The presented expressions assume a perfectly packed mixture and consider the thermal conductivity of the two phases, the proportion and the particle size of the dispersed phase. The proposed model includes non-dimensional heat loss factors, calculated by two and three-dimensional numerical simulations. In the continuation of the work presented, an experimental study is planned to evaluate the accuracy of the model, compared to other existing analytical solutions, and the validity of the assumptions made.