Effective Thermal Conductivity Estimates Of Particulate Mixtures

Authors

Christiaan Richter, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Hendrik J. Viljoen, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
N.F.J Van Rensburg, Department Mathematics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

Date of this Version

3-1-2003

Comments

This is authors own version of the article printed in the Journal of Applied Physics,VOLUME 93, NUMBER 5,, Page 2663 - 2670,1 MARCH 2003, © 2003 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.1541106. Publisher version can be viewed at Journal of Applied Physics home page

Abstract

Several theories have been advanced to estimate effective thermal conductivities of particulate mixtures, but most theories have focused on the dilute case. A method is proposed to estimate the effective thermal conductivity coefficient of mixtures of arbitrary concentration. Earlier the authors developed a theory to determine the expected contact area between different species. This theory is employed to determine the Kapitza resistance of the heterogeneous mixture and forms part of an overall theory to estimate the effective thermal conductivity. Results are compared with other theoretical estimates and with experiments.