Thermal conductivity assessment of wood using micro computed tomography based finite element analysis (μCT-based FEA)

Abstract

The paper presents a progressive methodology that combines X-ray micro computed tomography (μCT) and finite element analysis (FEA) to test the thermal conductivity of wood at the mesoscale level. μCT enables the three-dimensional (3D) modeling of real wood material with two-phase components (i.e., earlywood and latewood). The analytical wood conductivities from μCT-based FEA agree well with those from the theoretical analysis and the existing experimental findings. Using μCT-based FEA also enables the numerical evaluation of the effects of grain orientation, porosity, and water saturation degree on thermal conductivity of wood. Compared to current testing methods, the proposed μCT-based FEA has the advantages of high-resolution modeling, rapid evaluation, and high reproducibility of wood thermal conduction.