Thermal conductive and radiative properties of solid foams: Traditional and recent advanced modelling approaches

The current paper presents an overview of traditional and recent models for predicting the thermal properties of solid foams with open- and closed-cells. Their effective thermal conductivity has been determined analytically by empirical or thermal-resistance-network-based models. Radiative properties crucial to obtain the radiative conductivity have been determined analytically by models based on the independent scattering theory. Powerful models combine three-dimensional (3D) foam modelling (by X-ray tomography, Voronoi tessellation method, etc.) and numerical solution of transport equations. The finite-element method (FEM) has been used to compute thermal conductivity due to solid network for which the computation cost remains reasonable. The effective conductivity can be determined from FEM results combined with the conductivity due to the fluid, which can be accurately evaluated by a simple formula for air or weakly conducting gas. The finite volume method seems well appropriate for solving the thermal problem in both the solid and fluid phases. The ray-tracing Monte Carlo method constitutes the powerful model for radiative properties. Finally, 3D image analysis of foams is useful to determine topological information needed to feed analytical thermal and radiative properties models.