Effective thermal conductivity of functionally graded random micro-heterogeneous materials using representative volume element and BEM

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer Vol. 54; no. 17; pp. 3874 - 3881
• Main Authors: Dondero, Marco, Cisilino, Adrián P., Carella, José M., Tomba, J. Pablo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Boundary Element Method; Effective thermal conductivity; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Functionally graded materials; Homogenization; Materials and auxiliary equipments used in energy engineering; Random composites; Representative volume element; Homogenization; Representative volume element; Effective thermal conductivity; Boundary Element Method; Functionally graded materials; Random composites; Functionnally graded material; Numerical simulation; Void fraction; Random distribution; Experimental study; Microstructure; Modeling; Composite material; Boundary element method
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2011.04.041

This work introduces a numerical methodology for the computation of the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of random micro-heterogeneous materials using representative volume elements and the Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method (FMBEM). The methodology is applied to solve two-dimensional foam-like materials consisting of random distributions of circular isolated holes. The computed ETC values are successfully used to predict the temperature fields of two materials with functionally graded ETCs. Numerical and analytical results are experimentally validated. The proposed methodology is flexible and versatile, as it is capable to account for both, the geometrical and topological details of the material microstructure.