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Numerical prediction of the thermal conductivity of fibers

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Abstract

The need to determine the thermal conductivity of fibers for design purposes of new composite materials and the inherent difficulties in the direct measurement of the thermal conductivity of fibers motivated the present work due to its importance for energy conservation purposes. In this work, a correlation formula is developed to predict the thermal conductivities of fiber as function of the effective thermal conductivity of a fiber-reinforced composite laminates and their constituents which are easy to measure. The parallel and series thermal models of composite walls have been utilized in developing this correlation equation. The coefficients of this formula can be given as functions of the voids volume fraction for each fiber to resin volume ratio considered. The validity of the models is verified through finite element analysis. This model also shows excellent agreement with the available experimental values.

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Abbreviations

A f :

Total area of the fiber perpendicular to the heat flow direction

A r :

Total area of the resin perpendicular to the heat flow direction

A t :

Total area of the composite perpendicular to the heat flow direction

A v :

Total area of the air voids perpendicular to the heat flow direction

C i :

Coefficients of the correlation (13)

h:

Convective heat transfer coefficient

k e :

Effective thermal conductivity of the composite laminate

k f :

Thermal conductivity of the fiber

k fP :

Thermal conductivity of the fiber using the parallel model

k fS :

Thermal conductivity of the fiber using the serial model

k r :

Thermal conductivity of the resin

k v :

Thermal conductivity of the air voids

q :

Heat transfer rate given by (2)

q f :

Heat transfer rate through the fibers within the FRCL

q r :

Heat transfer rate through the resin within the FRCL

q v :

Heat transfer rate through the voids within the FRCL

R :

Thermal resistance defined by (1)

T conv :

The temperature at the convective surface of the composite

T w :

The temperature at the isothermally heated surface of the composite

T ∞ :

The ambient temperature

V f :

Volume fraction of the fiber

V fr :

Ratio of volume fraction of the fiber to that of the resin, V f /V r

V r :

Volume fraction of the resin

V v :

Volume fraction of the air voids

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, 31261, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Faleh A. Al-Sulaiman, Yagoub N. Al-Nassar & Esmail M.A. Mokheimer

Authors
  1. Faleh A. Al-Sulaiman
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  2. Yagoub N. Al-Nassar
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  3. Esmail M.A. Mokheimer
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Correspondence to Esmail M.A. Mokheimer.

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Al-Sulaiman, F.A., Al-Nassar, Y.N. & Mokheimer, E.M. Numerical prediction of the thermal conductivity of fibers. Heat Mass Transfer 42, 449–461 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-005-0058-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-005-0058-6

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