Modelling the Effective Thermal Conductivity in Polydispersed Bed Systems: A Unified Approach using the Linear Packing Theory and Unit Cell Model

Abstract

Abstract A comprehensive, unified approach, using the Linear Packing Theory and Unit Cell Model, is proposed for calculating of the effective thermal conductivity of polydispersed packed beds. In this new approach, the effect of packing density is incorporated by the use of (i) an initial porosity to take into account the packing of mono‐sized particles, and (ii) the packing size ratio as a measure of the particle‐particle interaction. The proposed approach was validated with the experimental measurements of binary and ternary beds. This new approach demonstrates that the effective thermal conductivity of beds composed of polydispersed particles can be simulated for any composition without the need to measure the in situ porosity.