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Effective Thermal Conductivity of Composite Materials with 3-D Microstructures and Interfacial Thermal Resistance

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 53; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10407780701678380

1521-0634

Carlos Frederico Trotta Matt, Manuel E. Cruz,

Numerical methods in engineering

This article presents a numerical scheme, based on an isoparametric second-order finite-element discretization of the unit cell heat conduction problem, to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of composite materials with general 3-D microstructures and interfacial thermal resistance. Representative numerical results for the effective conductivity of ordered arrays of spheres, prolate ellipsoids of revolution, and finite-length circular cylinders are presented and, when possible, validated against previous analytical predictions. Furthermore, the effective conductivity of a disordered multiparticle cell is calculated, showing that the present computational approach is a valuable tool for understanding the macroscopic thermal behavior of composite materials.