The effective thermal conductivity of packed beds of spheres for a finite contact area

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2000 · Numerical Heat Transfer. Part A, Applications

OSTI ID:20020811

Buonanno, G; Carotenuto, A

The evaluation of the effective thermal conductivity of a porous medium is of interest for a wide range of engineering problems, such as in determining the temperature field in packed bed catalytic reactors, in drying processes, in processes involving transpiration cooling, in a nonisothermal catalyst pellet, in the thermal process of oil recovery and shale oil retorting operations, and in a variety of other technologies. Here, the upper and lower bounds of the effective thermal conductivity range of packed beds of spheres is evaluated using the theoretical approach of the volume averaging method for a two-phase system. The solid mechanics and thermal problems are resolved by considering the effects of superficial roughness and pressure. The numerical solutions to the problem of thermal conduction through the periodic regular arrangement of stainless steel and aluminum spheres in the air are determined using the finite element method. As regards to the aluminum spheres, the influence of oxide stratum on the effective thermal conductivity is also considered. Finally, empirical equations are proposed for periodic regular arrangements of stainless steel and aluminum spheres.

• Research Organization: Univ. di Cassino (IT)
• OSTI ID: 20020811
• Journal Information: Numerical Heat Transfer. Part A, Applications, Journal Name: Numerical Heat Transfer. Part A, Applications Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 37; ISSN 1040-7782; ISSN NHAAES
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PACKED BEDS
POROUS MATERIALS
THERMAL CONDUCTION
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY