Calculations of the thermal conductivity of porous materials

In this paper, the geometrical effective thermal conductivity of porous materials is investigated based on two different approaches: the finite element method as a representative for numerical approximation methods and an analytical method for 2D homogenised models based on a solution of the respective boundary value problem. It is found that the relative conductivity is practically independent of the specific shape or topology of the inclusions. Only the morphology (closed-cell or open-cell) of the structure slightly influences the conductivity. Furthermore, it is shown that a small perturbation of the circular inclusions of 2D models increases the effective conductivity.