Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Particle Random Spatial Distribution on the Thermal Conductivity of Composites

摘要

The overall thermal properties of particle reinforced composites are of primary importance for practical applications. Effect of random spatial distribution of sphere particles on the thermal conductivity of composites was numerically studied by ANSYS Workbench Steady-State Thermal analysis module. MATLAB procedure is used to achieve random distribution of particles in composites and to generate a representative volume element (RVE) model. The simulation results indicate that, at the same volume fraction, the random distribution has higher thermal conductivity than the uniform distribution; effect of particles' spatial distribution on thermal conductivity is greater than volume fraction especially when the volume fraction is between 15% and 35%.