THEORETICAL & APPLIED MECHANICS LETTERS 3, 021011 (2013)

Thermal stretching in two-phase porous media: Physical basis for

Maxwell model
Xiaohu Yang,
1
Tianjian Lu,
2, a)
and Tongbeum Kim
3, b)
1)
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049, China
2)
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Structure Strength and Vibration, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049,
China
3)
School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
Wits 2050, South Africa
(Received 23 August 2012; accepted 29 January 2013; published online 10 March 2013)
Abstract An alternate yet general form of the classical eective thermal conductivity model
(Maxwell model) for two-phase porous materials is presented, serving an explicit thermo-physical
basis. It is demonstrated that the reduced eective thermal conductivity of the porous media due to
non-conducting pore inclusions is caused by the mechanism of thermal stretching, which is a combi-
nation of reduced eective heat ow area and elongated heat transfer distance (thermal tortuosity).
c 2013 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. [doi:10.1063/2.1302111]
Keywords thermal stretching, eective thermal conductivity, porous media, Maxwell model
The eective thermal conductivity of porous media
has been a long lasting issue, for which a variety of
fundamental models have been proposed.
110
Amongst
these models, the analytical model of Maxwell
1
typically
serves as reference, providing good estimation of the de-
pendence of eective thermal conductivity upon poros-
ity, especially for relatively low porosities.
11,12
Built
upon the Maxwell model, numerous alternative models
have subsequently been proposed, leading to the group
of Maxwellian models.
3
Maxwell
1
originally aimed to determine analytically
the eective electrical conductivity of a random disper-
sion of spherical particles within a continuous medium,
assuming sucient spatial separation of the spheres to
exclude mutual interactions amongst them. Its anal-
ogous form in heat conduction is often termed the
Maxwell eective thermal conductivity model for het-
erogeneous two-phase media, expressed as
k
e
k
c
= 1
3v
p
(1 )
2 + + v
p
(1 )
, (1)
where k
e
denotes the eective thermal conductivity of
the unit cell, = k
p
/k
c
, k
c
and k
p
are the thermal
conductivity of the continuous phase and the disperse
phase, and v
p
is the volume fraction of the disperse
phase or, equivalently, the porosity if the disperse phase
is spherical pores. Equation (1) dictates that the pres-
ence of low conducting pores ( < 1) reduces the eec-
tive conductivity and, in the limit when the pores are
thermally insulating (k
p
= 0), k
e
/k
c
= 13/(1+2/v
p
).
The reduction is signicant, with k
e
/k
c
= 2/3 when
k
p
= 0 and v
p
= 1/4.
Despite the common usage of Maxwell and
Maxwellian models at least as reference together with
the classical parallel and series models as well as the rel-
atively simple form of these models, their physical basis
a)
Corresponding author. Email: tjlu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
b)
Email: tong.kim@wits.ac.za.
has not been fully understood. Further, it has not been
fully claried how the inclusion of low-conducting pores
causes signicant reduction in the eective thermal con-
ductivity of the bulk media. Macroscopically, it was ini-
tially thought that the reduction stems mainly from the
reduced volume fraction of the conducting phase as the
pores are low-conducting. Whilst some studies
9,13,14
demonstrated that the shape and orientation of the
pores also aect the eective conductivity, the under-
lying physical mechanism still remains unclear. Micro-
scopically (at the pore level), it has been argued
15,16
that the eective conductivity is reduced due to local
temperature distortion in the continuous phase by the
presence of low- (or non-) conducting pores. However,
no clear connection has been established between the
macroscopic and microscopic analyses on the observed
reduction of eective conductivity. This study, there-
fore, aims to provide the physical basis connecting these
two very dierent levels by presenting an alternative
yet more general expression of the Maxwell model for
low porosity two-phase porous media containing non-
conducting pores. Focus is placed upon the interplay
between the reduction in eective heat ow area and
local temperature distortion.
Consider a two-phase porous medium consisting of
spherical pores of equal size (radius R) regularly dis-
tributed (square arrays) in a continuous phase (solid)
with no mutual physical contact amongst them. For
simplicity, it is assumed that the pores are thermally
non-conducting (k
p
= 0), and natural convection within
the pore as well as thermal radiation is negligible. It
is further assumed that local temperature distortion
around an individual pore does not aect the neighbor-
ing ones. Figure 1 depicts schematically a representa-
tive unit cell of the porous medium under steady-state
heat conduction. The wall temperature at x = 0 and
x = L is xed at T
1
and T
2
(T
1
> T
2
assumed), re-
spectively, and the remaining wall boundaries are sym-
metric, where the x-axis coincides with the nominal di-
rection of heat conduction. Under such conditions, the
021011-2 X. H. Yang, T. J. Lu, and T. Kim Theor. Appl. Mech. Lett. 3, 021011 (2013)
Symmetry face
Constant heat flow line
Isothermal line
Pore
Imaginary
thermaltube
Tl
T2

r
1
J
J2
l()
|c
b02
|p
dr
d
db(r,)]
rdr
db(r,)]
r
Fig. 1. Schematic of unit cell for two-phase porous media: spherical pore embedded in a cuboid.
three-dimensional problem may be simplied to an ax-
isymmetric problem enabling the thermal analysis on
an axisymmetric surface consisting of a circular pore
centered in a square continuous medium. Whilst the
constant heat-ow lines perpendicularly intersect the
constant temperature lines (isothermal lines), both are
distorted by the presence of the non-conducting pore
within the unit cell.
With the thermal boundary conditions prescribed
as shown in Fig. 1, Fouriers law dictates that the total
amount of heat in the unit cell is given by
Q
t
= k
e
b
0
T
L
, (2)
where b
0
is the heat transfer area per unit depth, L is the
heat transfer length along the x-axis, and T = T
1
T
2
is the temperature dierence imposed across the unit
cell, with T(0, y) = T
1
and T(L, y) = T
2
. For non-
conducting pore inclusions, the total amount of heat
transferred through the unit cell is equal to that con-
ducted via the continuous medium, i.e., Q
t
= Q
c
.
To analyze the amount of heat transferred through
the solid phase Q
c
, consider an innitely small element
db(x, y) on an arbitrary and imaginary thermal tube
(stretched and distorted by the non-conducting pore)
along an arbitrary constant heat-ow line l(y). For
T
1
> T
2
, heat is conducted along the constant heat-ow
line from x = 0 to x = L. The amount of local heat
dQ
x
(y) transferred nominally along the x-axis but, in
fact, following the stretched thermal tube is given by
d Q
x
(y) = k
c
d b(x, y)
T
1
T
2
l(y)
, (3)
where db(x, y) is the heat transfer area of the thermal
tube per unit depth, and l(y) is the heat transfer length
along the thermal tube. Integrating db(x, y) and l(y)
of the stretched thermal tube, respectively along the
x- and y-axis yields a straight (non-stretched) thermal
tube with the mean width d b(y) and mean length l, as
d b(y) =
1
L

L
0
d b(x, y) d x, (4)
l =
2
b
0

b0/2
0
l(y) d y. (5)
Under steady-state heat conduction, a certain amount
of heat transported through a thermal tube is con-
stant and invariable with its shape as well as cross-
sectional area. The heat transferred through a single
stretched tube can be approximately calculated in the
non-stretched tube with the mean width d b(y) and
length l. Thus, the amount of local heat dQ(y) trans-
ferred along the non-stretched thermal tube may be ap-
proximately expressed as
d Q(y) = k
c
d b(y)
T
1
T
2
l
. (6)
Integration of Eq. (6) with respect to y leads to the total
amount of heat conducted in the unit cell domain, as
Q
c
= 2

b0/2
0
d Q(y) =
2k
c
T
1
T
2
Ll

b0/2
0

L
0
d b(x, y) d x. (7)
For non-conducting pores as considered in the present
study, Q
t
= Q
c
and hence
k
e
k
c
=
(
L
l
)

b0/2
0

L
0
d b(x, y) d x
Lb
0
/2
. (8)
This expression states that the eective thermal con-
ductivity is determined by the product of:
(i) Change in average heat transfer length along
constant heat ow lines
L
l
. (9a)
021011-3 Thermal stretching in two-phase porous media Theor. Appl. Mech. Lett. 3, 021011 (2013)
(ii) Change in average heat transfer area

b0/2
0

L
0
d b(x, y) d x
Lb
0
/2
. (9b)
Equation (9a) is, in fact, identical to the denition of
tortuosity widely known in uid mechanics commu-
nity, which is dened as the ratio of the distance trav-
eled actually by a ow particle to the straight-line dis-
tance traveled by the particle without any obstruction.
As the tortuosity is typically obtained by averaging over
a representative element, the average thermal tortuos-
ity is analogously introduced here as

l
L
=
2
b
0

b0/2
0
l(y) d y
L
=
2
b
0

b0/2
0
(y) d y = ,
(10a)
where (y) = l(y)/L is the local thermal tortuosity.
Equation (9b) indicates that the heat transfer area av-
eraged over the unit cell may be expressed as a function
of the void fraction (porosity) v
p
as

b0/2
0

L
0
d b(x, y) d x
b
0
L/2
= 1 v
p
. (10b)
Substitution of Eq. (10) into Eq. (8) leads to a sim-
ple form for the eective thermal conductivity as a func-
tion of the porosity and thermal tortuosity, as
k
e
k
c
=
(1 v
p
)

. (11)
Equation (11) is similar in form to the eective dif-
fusivity models for mass transfer in porous media,
17
al-
though the tortuosity is dierently dened as the square
of the ratio of actual uid ow path to the straight
path.
1822
Due to the analogy between heat and mass
transfer, a few studies
2326
employed directly the eec-
tive diusivity models to estimate the eective thermal
conductivity, without properly validating such usage in
heat transfer. The present study, for the rst time, es-
tablishes the analogy based on physical modeling and
claries the physical basis of the eective conductivity
as a function of porosity and thermal tortuosity.
To estimate the eective thermal conductivity using
the present model as expressed explicitly in Eq. (11),
the average thermal tortuosity which is strongly af-
fected by the pore shape, size and volume fraction of
pore inclusions needs to be calculated. With the poros-
ity xed at v
p
= 0.15, Fig. 2(a) displays the constant
heat ow lines around the pore obtained from steady-
state two-dimensional numerical simulations with Flow-
3D
TM
. Upon image processing of Fig. 2(a), the trans-
verse distribution of local thermal tortuosity (y) can be
obtained, as shown in Fig. 2(b). In the vicinity of the
non-conducting pore, the constant heat-ow lines are
TK 3l0 3l2 3l3 3l5 3l7 3lS 320 322 32d 325 327 329 330
b02
Tl
T2

0
r
J
1
l()
Constant heat flow lines
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

b
0
u
p
0.6
u
p
0.l5
(a) Distortion of local temperature field and
constant heat flow lines obtained from
numerical simulations with constant wall
temperature at r = 0 and r=J for
u
p
= 0.15
(b) Transverse distribution of local thermal
tortuosity for u
p
= 0.15 and u
p
= 0.60
Fig. 2. Thermal tortuosity around a non-conducting circu-
lar pore.
elongated by about 25 % in comparison with those near
the unit cell edge, y = b
0
/2. Even for such low poros-
ity levels (v
p
= 0.15), the constant heat-ow lines are
signicantly stretched and distorted by the presence of
the pore. Contrast to the low porosity case (v
p
= 0.15)
where the local thermal tortuosity decreases dramati-
cally as the value of 2y/b
0
is increased from 0 to 0.2,
the local thermal tortuosity decreases more mildly as
the porosity is increased to 0.60 shown in Fig. 2(b).
For idealized pore topologies of Fig. 1, Fig. 3
presents the normalized eective conductivity k
e
/k
c
ob-
tained from Eq. (11) as a function of porosity. The
eective conductivity estimated from the present anal-
ysis exhibits a trend in excellent agreement with the
Maxwell model as well as experimental data.
8
It may
be inferred from the present results that the presence of
non-conducting pores reduces the eective conductivity
due to the combined eect of two mechanisms: (1) re-
duced eective heat ow area (reected macroscopically
as porosity), and (2) increased thermal tortuosity (re-
ected locally as stretched and distorted heat conduc-
tion paths). The thermal tortuosity itself is strongly
aected by the porosity.
021011-4 X. H. Yang, T. J. Lu, and T. Kim Theor. Appl. Mech. Lett. 3, 021011 (2013)
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
v
p
k
p
/
k
e

k
c
Parallel model
Upper limit for
a circular pore
Maxwell model
1
Present analysis
Experimental data
8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Fig. 3. Eective thermal conductivity (ke) plotted as a
function of void fraction (vp) for non-conducting pores (kp =
0).
2.0
1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
v
p
k
p
/

Present analysis
Valid range
Calculation base on
numerical simulation
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Fig. 4. Average thermal tortuosity ( ) plotted as a function
of void fraction (vp) for non-conducting pores (kp = 0).
Thermal tortuosity, as a measure of an imaginary
heat conduction length, can provide a better under-
standing of transport phenomena in porous media. For
some porous media e.g., close-celled metal foams, are
typically saturated with air, heat transferred through
uid phase (air) can be reasonably neglected compared
with that through solid phase (k
s
k
f
). In this case,
Eq. (1) is reduced to
k
e
k
c
=
2(1 v
p
)
2 + v
p
. (12)
It follows from Eqs. (11) and (12) that the average ther-
mal tortuosity depends on the porosity, expressed ex-
plicitly as
= 1 +
1
2
v
p
. (13)
Figure 4 compares the analytical prediction of Eq. (13)
with that numerically calculated, with good agreement
achieved in relatively low porosity ranges. The discrep-
ancy at higher porosities (e.g., v
p
> 0.50) is attributed
mainly to the violation of the assumptions associated
with the Maxwell model. Notice nally that, based on
numerical simulation results, Koponen et al.
27
reported
the linear dependence of tortuosity upon porosity
for uid ow in two-dimensional porous media contain-
ing randomly distributed rectangular pores.
This study provides the physical basis for the clas-
sical Maxwell model or Maxwellian models that are
capable of estimating the eective thermal conductiv-
ity of two-phase porous media at relatively low poros-
ity ranges. An alternate yet general expression for
these models demonstrates that the presence of non- (or
very low-) conducting pores reduces the eective ther-
mal conductivity of the porous material mainly via the
mechanism of thermal stretching: (1) macroscopically,
the reduced eective conducting area (1 v
p
), and (2)
microscopically, the elongated heat ow length ( ).
This work was supported by the National 111 Project
of China (B06024), the National Basic Research Program
of China (2011CB610305), the Major International Joint
Research Program of China (11120101002) and the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51206128).
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