Multi‐Scale Analysis Method for Thermal Conductivity of Porous Material with Radiation

Abstract

In this paper, a homogenization‐based multi‐scale method for predicting the effective thermal conductivity of porous materials with radiation is presented, which considers the effect of geometry and distribution of pores. Using homogenization method to solve the pure conductive problem of porous materials with periodic structure, the effective thermal conductivity without considering radiation is predicted, and a temperature field in a local domain of a unit cell is obtained. This temperature field is taken as the good approximation of the real temperature distribution, and the radiative thermal conductivity is obtained. The effect of the microstructure, the distribution and geometry of pores on heat transfer of porous materials is discussed. It is concluded that the dimension of the pores is an important influence factor on the thermal transfer property of porous materials if radiation is considered. Increasing the pore’s dimension enhances the contribution of radiation to the heat transfer property of porous materials. For porous materials with cylindrical and spherical pores, the radiative thermal conductivity is proportional to pore’s diameter.