REVIEW PRESENTATION ON

HEAT TRANFER IN COMPOSITE MATERIAL

Presented By
Krishna Modi
Neel Vadera

Outline :
INTRODUCTION
CASE STUDY I
Heat transfer characteristics of silica aerogel composite
materials: Structure reconstruction and numerical
modelling
CASE STUDY II
Numerical and experimental study on the heat transfer
properties of the composite paraffin/expanded graphite
phase change material
REFERENCES

With the increasing utilization of the composite

materials in various industries, the prediction of the
effective thermal conductivity and hence the temperature
distribution in these materials is necessary for the
analysis and design purposes. Many of applications of
composite materials involve the transfer of heat.
Therefore it is convenient to understand how develop
expressions that model the heat transfer in composites.
Composite material analysed is made up of a solid matrix
with particles implanted within it.

CASE STUDY I
Heat transfer characteristics of silica aerogel
composite materials: Structure reconstruction and
numerical modelling

Introduction :
Silica aerogel is a kind of nonporous super insulation
material. Usually reinforcing fibres and opacifier particles
added into aerogel materials to enhance its ability of
restraining radiation heat transfer and improving its
strength.
The addition of fibres and Opacifiers cannot only affect heat
conduction of the material, but also influencing the
absorption and scattering of radiation which lead to the
extinction of radiation heat transfer.
Thus, combined conduction and radiation heat transfer of
multiphase materials is an important feature of heat
transfer of aerogel composite insulation materials.
there are some assumptions existing in these theoretical
models which would inevitably cause calculation errors, for
example:
1. Assuming that all the fibres are distributed in an idealized
distribution form.
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 Due to these error, constructing a more exactly numerical model to

study combined conduction and radiation heat transfer is very
necessary for the investigation of the influence of the reinforced
fibres and opacifier particles on the thermal insulation performance of
the aerogel composite materials.
For the realistic structures of the aerogel composite material,
Reconstruct the structure of the particle type and fibrous type
multiphase material by using random generation-growth method
(RGGM) and modified method (random distributed fibrous media
(RDFM) and directionally distributed fibrous media (DDFM).)
respectively.
Numerical model of combined conduction and radiation heat
transfer inside composite material by using the finite volume method
(to solve the energy equation) and discrete ordinate method(DOM)
(to solve radiative transfer equation).
According to the above process, the overall process
flowchart of the numerical study of heat transfer characteristics of
aerogel insulation materials from the structure reconstruction to the
numerical calculated effective thermal conductivity is showed in
figure.
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Result and Discussion:

The results are calculated based on the reconstruction
structures and numerical method. And also the influence of
the particles and the fibers would be discussed individually.
Heat transfer characteristics of the opacifier composite
aerogel material
Verification of the effectiveness of Rossland approximation.

Effect of volume fraction of the particles.

The conductive thermal conductivity is obtained according
to Maxwell model and radiative thermal conductivity is
obtained according to Rossland approximation.

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Comparison of the results of random structure and uniform

structure.
The structure of particle type material that be reconstructed
is a kind of random structure which is irregular and complex. In
order to check the effect of this kind of irregular complex structure
on heat transfer characteristics, a kind of structure of evenly
distributed particle type multiphase material are also generated,
and are used in the numerical study of the heat transfer of the
multiphase material.

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 Heat transfer characteristics of the fibre reinforced composite

aerogel material
Conductive thermal conductivity (CTC)
they resolved effective thermal conductivity into two components,
one parallel to the heat flux and the other perpendicular to it, and
then gave a model that combined the two basic models for effective
thermal conductivity by two different equation.

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Random distributed fibrous media (RDFM)

Random distributed fibrous multiphase media means that
fibers in the material can distributed in any direction with equal
probability. For the Random distributed fibrous multiphase media,
Hamilton model and Random model are two models that are always
used in the prediction of its effective thermal conductivity .

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Combined conductive and radiative thermal conductivity

(CRTC)

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Conclusion:

For the opacifier particle composite insulation material, as

the content of particles increased, the conductive thermal
conductivity increased and the radiative thermal
conductivity decreased, the total thermal conductivity of
the material decreased firstly and then increased.
Particle clusters have significant effect on the heat
transfer performance of the composite insulation
materials. When particle volume fraction becomes to a
high value, large deviation emerges between the
theoretical method and numerical method due to the
particle clusters in the randomly generated structures.
Based on the numerical results, a modified model was
proposed for the directionally distributed fibrous material
which can effectively predict its conductive thermal
conductivity.

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CASE STUDY II
Numerical and experimental study on the heat
transfer properties of the composite
paraffin/expanded graphite phase change material

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INTRODUCTION
The PCM has the characteristic that, when the phase
change happens, the potential energy of phase change
can be absorbed or released without variance of
temperature. Such characteristic are applied in many
industry fields, such as solar energy utilization, heat
reclaim of the industrial stove, heat insulation and
preservation of the buildings, electric power, aeronautics,
spin, etc.. This technology called phase change heat
storage is important to improve the efficiency of energy
consuming and to protect the environment.
The composite phase change materials (PCMs) can be
obtained by heating and compressing the mixture of
expanded graphite (EG) and paraffin, and they have high
anisotropic thermal conductivity. The phase-change heat
transfer properties of the composite paraffin/EG PCMs are
studied numerically and experimentally. In the numerical
simulation, the phase change heat transfer model is
simplified as a one-dimensional monolayer, and the
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monolayer is heated by two stable heat fluxes at both

In the experiment, the PCM composite is placed in a

metal box, and the underside of the metal box is heated
by an electric stove. A heat flow is found to be
transferred from the side wall of the metal box to the
cover board, and then the composite PCMs are heated by
the cover board. This experimental phenomenon is
validated by the numerical simulation.
It is well known that the thermal conductivity of the PCMs
(for example, paraffin) is usually low, therefore, the
composite PCMs with high conductivity are usually
obtained by absorbed by the EG ,filled into foam metal
framework or added additives of nano-materials etc.,
thus the application value of the PCMs in industry can be
greatly improved. Mins study showed that the thermal
conductivity of the paraffin/SiO2/EG composite was
94.7% higher than that of paraffin. If the pure paraffin is
added with 10 wt.% EG, the thermal conductivity can
Increase 10 times than before
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 Yajuans study showed that, the thermal diffusivity of the

Paraffin-Graphite foams could be 570 times than that of pure
paraffin wax . Py et al. studied the EG matrix impregnated
with paraffin based on capillary action, and results showed
that the thermal conductivities of these composites could be
improved up to 70 W/mK. The investigation of Jianguo et al
showed that, on the condition that the paraffin content
increased, the temperature of phase change didnt vary while
the latent heat of phase change increased.

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Physical properties of the paraffin/EG

composite
The paraffin/EG composite used in the experiment, as
shown in Fig. 1, are made by the Institute of Coal
Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science Taiyuan . The
composite is actually made of two blocks along the
thickness direction, and each block has the thickness of
15 mm. The porosity of the composite PCM is about 82%.
The three-dimensional thermal conductivities are
measured with the apparatus LFA 447 Nanoflash, and
they are kx = ky = 26.33 W/mK and kz = 5.63 W/mK,
respectively, so it can be easily seen that the thermal
conductivities of the composite PCM are anisotropic.

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Numerical simulation on heat transfer of the composite

paraffin/EG PCM
Physical model and boundary conditions
The one-dimensional heat transfer model is shown in Fig. The
width of the composite PCM is d and is divided into n equal parts
(control volumes), then we have x=D/n.
The temperature of node i is expressed as Ti.
The both surfaces of the composite are heated by the heat
fluxes q1 and q2 respectively, and then phase change will occur
from outside to inside. If the phase change starts from the left
surface to the inner part of the composite, and then assume the
phase change of the control volume j is taking place. Thus, it is
obvious that for the condition of i < j the phase of the control
volume i is liquid. If the phase change starts from the right
surface to the inner part of the composite, then assume the
phase change of the control volume j is taking place. Thus, for
the condition of i > j the phase of the control volume i is liquid.
The boundary condition for left boundary is the boundary
condition
of the fixed heat flux, and its discreet form is

(1)
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 The boundary condition for right boundary is the boundary

condition of natural convection coupled with fixed heat flux, and
its discrete form is

(2)
Differential equation of heat transfer and
its discrete form

(3)
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Eq. (3) can be transformed and solve as the follows :

(4)
Where,

these equations can be solved with the TDMA

(tridiagonal matrix algorithm) method

This suggest that Phase change will start from the

control volume 1 and the control volume n
respectively, and then gradually expand to the inner
control volumes. The control volumes before control
volume j and those after control volume j are melt
completely after some time.
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 The control volumes are melted from outside to inside, and

finally it must appears the condition that two neighbouring
control volumes are not totally melted, that is, it must appears
j= j+1. When this two control volumes are totally melted, the
whole composite PCMs are completely melted and will reach the
apparent heat transfer process of liquid state. At this time, the
temperatures from the 0th node to the (n+1)th node can be
obtained using the TDMA method.

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Results and discussions

The composite cetane/EG PCM is taken for example to study. The

physical properties of the cetane are b = 273.2 kJ/kg, Tb = 16.7
C. The solid-state density at the temperature of 15 C is 835.0
kg/m^3 , and the liquid-state density at the temperature of 16.8
C is 774.0 kg/m^3, and the averaged density is m = 804.5 kg/
m^3. The physical properties of the graphite are s = 520
kg/m^3.
The measured thermal conductivities of the composite PCM
along of
two
directions
5.63
W/mK and
26.33
Effects
q1different
on phase
changeare
heat
transfer
when
q2 =W/mK,
0
respectively.
and
a=0

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 When q2 = 0, a = 0 and k = 5.63 W/mK, effects of q1 = 5000 W/

m2 on phase change heat transfer is shown in Fig. The right
boundary is the heat-isolation boundary because of q2 =0 and a
= 0. The heat transfer process shown in Fig. can be divided into
three processes:
(1)The apparent heat transfer process of the PCMs of solid state
(before the 45th second);
(2)The phase change heat transfer process of the PCMs (from the
45th second to the 1126th second);
(3)The apparent heat transfer process of the PCMs of liquid state
(after the 1126th second). In the step (2), those melted PCMs
will carry on apparent heat transfer of liquid state, and the
temperature curves deviate the horizontal direction and incline
upward.
() However, the temperature rises slowly with time because those
unmelted PCMs absorb plenty of heat energy when they melt
and maintain at the phase change temperature Tb. This causes
a restrain action to the temperature rise of the whole composite
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PCMs.

 However, in the apparent heat transfer process of the PCMs of

liquid state, this restraint action vanishes, thus the temperature
of the composite PCMs rises fast with time.
The total melting time for the whole composite PCMs is 1081s.
When q1 = 8000 W/m2, as shown in Fig. 4(b), phase change
starts at the 23th second and ends at the 740th second, and the
total melting time is 717s.
Comparing with the condition of q1 = 5000 W/m2, the phase
change starts and ends earlier, and the total melting time is also
much smaller than before. What we can see from the two figures
is that the temperature curves are linear relationship with time
at the apparent heat transfer process of the PCMs of liquid state.

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Conclusion
The paraffin/EG composite PCMs have high thermal
conductivity, and the three-dimensional thermal conductivities are
anisotropic. In this work, the composite PCMs are simplified as a
one-dimensional single-layer that is heated with two stable heat
fluxes from both sides respectively, and the corresponding phase
change physical heat transfer model is established. The heat
transfer properties of the paraffin/EG composite PCMs are studied
both numerically and experimentally. The results of numerical
simulation match perfectly with those of experiment. The following
conclusions can be drawn:
The anisotropic properties of the thermal conductivities of the
paraffin/EG Composite PCM is very obvious, and it influences the
phase change heat transfer violently.
The larger the thermal conductivity along the direction of the
heat flow, the later the start time of the phase change, the
earlier the end time of the phase change, the shorter the time
for melting the composite PCMs, and more uniform the
temperature distribution along the width direction.
Considering the conductivity anisotropy of the paraffin/EG
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Composite PCM, the direction with the big thermal conductivity

References
C. Zhenqian, G. Mingwei, P. Donghua, Heat transfer performance
analysis of a solar flat-plate collector with an integrated metal
foam porous structure filled with paraffin, Appl. Thermal Eng. 30
(2010) 19671973.
Heat transfer characteristics of silica aerogel composite
materials:Structure reconstruction and numerical modeling
Numerical and experimental study on the heat transfer
properties of the composite paraffin/expanded graphite phase
change material Luo Jian-Feng a,, Yin Hong-Wei a, Li Wen-Yu b,
Xu Zhong-Jie b, Shao Zheng-Zheng

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Thank you

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