Calculation of the Thermal Conductivity of Porous Media

The problem of determining the effective thermal conductivities of porous and other composite materials from the conductivities and volume fractious of their constituents is examined. An approximate equation is derived for the case of a cubic lattice of identical spherical particles in a medium having properties different from those of the particles. This equation is applied to the calculation of the thermal conductivity of snow at different densities in the range 0.10 to 0.48 gm/cc. The effect of water vapor diffusion in snow under a temperature gradient is taken into account by adding a latent heat term to the conductivity value for dry air. Conductivity values for snow, calculated in this manner, are found to agree satisfactorily with experimental data. An equation due to Russell is also shown to give conductivity values for several cellular thermal insulating materials which are in good agreement with experimental values.