Organic liquid thermal conductivity: A prediction method in the reduced temperature range 0.3 to 0.8

Abstract

A general correlation for organic liquid thermal conductivity, λ, estimation is proposed of the following type:

$$\lambda = A \cdot \frac{{(1 - T_r )}}{{T_r^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 6}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 6}} }}^{0.38}$$

where T _r is the reduced temperature and the factor A is practically temperature independent and characteristic of the particular compound investigated. The values of the factor A for 144 organic liquids are calculated (through selected experimental λ data) and are listed. The proposed correlation is tested, and the mean general deviation between calculated and selected experimental λ values is found to be smaller than 2% over wide temperature ranges (generally from T _r = 0.3 to T _r =0.8); the maximum deviations are normally smaller than 6%. Successively, the compounds are investigated as members of the respective families in order to provide an expression for A by means of the best available physical properties of the liquids. Correlations are proposed (for alcohols, aromatics, esters, refrigerant fluids, paraffins, cycloparaffins, ketones, organic acids, ethers, and olefins) that contain the same reduced temperature dependence evidenced in the above equation and that differ in the expression suggested for the factor A. In this way, the thermal conductivity of the organic liquids can be evaluated, with a mean deviation generally less than 5%, in absence of experimental λ data.