Numerical investigation into thermal contact conductance between linear and curvilinear contacts

Abstract

Heat transfer has considerable applications in different industries such as designing of heat exchanger, nuclear reactor cooling, control system for spacecraft and designing of microelectronics cooling. As the surfaces of two metals contact each other, this issue becomes so crucial. Thermal contact resistance is one of the key physical parameters in heat transfer of mentioned surfaces. Measuring the experimental value of thermal contact resistance in laboratory is highly expensive and difficult. As an alternative, numerical modeling methods could be engaged. In this study, Inverse problem method solution is utilized as a proper method for estimation of thermal contact resistance value. In this order, three different configurations (flat-flat, flat-cylinder, and cylinder-cylinder) were utilized in two steady and unsteady state conditions to predict the value of thermal contact resistance. In conclusion, the final results establish the fact that the inverse problem method solution can predict thermal contact resistance values between contacting surfaces.