240 i Jang, J. H., and Faghri, A.

, 1991, "Analysis of the One-Dimensional Transient

Previous analyses, 0min= 33 s' Compressible Vapor Flow in Heat Pipes," Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 34, pp.
220 Exp. data by Hopkins (1997) / : 160 2029-2037.
Present analysis, 6 m in = 33 y Kamotani, Y 1976, "Thermal Analysis of Axially Grooved Heat Pipes," Proc. 2nd
200 T* = 0, analysis /' : 140 Int. Heat Pipe Conf, Bologna, Italy, pp. 83-91.
180 Khrustalev, D., and Faghri, A., 1994, "Thermal Analysis of a Micro Heat Pipe,"
- 120 ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER, Vol. 116, pp. 189-198.
160 / Khrustalev, D., and Faghri, A., 1995, "Thermal Characteristics of Conventional and
Flat Miniature Axially-Grooved Heat Pipes," ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER, Vol.
C- 140 : 100 117, pp. 1048-1054.
1 120 Khrustalev, D and Faghri, A., 1996, "High Flux Evaporative Mini-Channel Heat
: 80 Sink With Axial Capillary Grooves," Journal of Enhanced Heat Transfer, Vol. 3, No.
100 J 3, pp. 221-232.
: 60 Lin, L., and Faghri, A., 1997, "Steady-State Performance of a Rotating Miniature
80 Heat Pipe," Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp.
60 513-519.
r 40 Longtin, J. P., Badran, B., and Gerner, F. M., 1992, "A One-Dimensional Model of
40 ---^^ a Micro Heat Pipe During Steady-State Operation," Proc. 8th Int. Heat Pipe Conf,,
- 20 Beijing, China, Preprints, pp. C-5-1-C-5-7.
20 Ma, H. B., Peterson, G. P., and Lu, X. J., 1994, "The Influence of Vapor-Liquid
'
50 60 70 80 90 100 Interactions on the Liquid Pressure Drop in Triangular Microgrooves," Int. J. Heat
and Mass Transfer, Vol. 37, pp. 2211-2219.
Tv(C) Reddy, J. N., 1994, The Finite Element Method in Heat Transfer and Fluid
Dynamics, CRC Press, Ann Arbor, MI.
Fig. 6 Maximum heat transfer of a flat miniature heat pipe versus oper- Schneider, G. E., and DeVos, R., 1980, "Nondimensional Analysis for the Heat
ating temperature in horizontal orientation Transport Capability of Axially-Grooved Heat Pipes Including Liquid/Vapor Inter-
action," AIAA Paper No. 80-0214.
Shah, R. K., and Bhatti, M. S 1987, "Laminar Convective Heat Transfer in
Ducts," Handbook of Single Phase Convective Heat Transfer, Kakac et al., eds., John
yielded by the present analysis, significantly improved agreement Wiley and Sons, New York.
between theoretical prediction and experimental data obtained by Yang, C. Y and Webb, R. L., 1996, "Friction Pressure Drop of R-12 in Small
Hydraulic Diameter Extruded Aluminum Tubes With and Without Micro-Fins," Int.
Hopkins et al. (1997) as shown in Fig. 6. Previous analyses under J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 801-809.
predicted the experimental data by about 35 percent. Prediction
obtained using results of the present coupled liquid and vapor flow
analyses favorably agrees with the experimental data. Importance
of accounting for the liquid-vapor interaction is seen from the
upper curve in Fig. 6 obtained for zero shear stress at the interface A Closure Model for Transient Heat
that over predicts experimental data by 100 percent. This under- Conduction in Porous Media
lines that coupled solutions for liquid and vapor flow should be
used in modeling of miniature grooved two-phase devices.
C. T. Hsu1
Conclusions
The numerical results describing the fluid flow in two-phase
miniature passages with microgrooves are summarized as follows:
Equations governing the transient heat conduction in porous materi-
1 Shear stresses at the liquid-vapor curved interface are sig- als consisting of solids and fluids of different thermal properties were
nificantly nonuniform, decreasing towards the center of the liquid- derived with a volumetric average scheme under the assumption of
vapor meniscus. This nonuniformity increases with curvature of nonthermal equilibrium. The derivation leads to a macroscopic two-
the liquid-vapor interface. equation system which requires the closure modeling of new unknown
2 The effect of the vapor flow on the liquid flow in the grooves terms due to interfacial transport, namely, the tortuosity term and the
decreases with curvature of the liquid-vapor interface. interfacial heat transfer term. Closure relations were obtained from
3 Frictional vapor-liquid interaction significantly affects per- the microscopic equations for temperature fluctuation under quasi-
formance of two-phase miniature devices with axial grooves. steady assumption. The closure coefficients appeared in the closure
Shapes of the liquid and vapor cross-sectional areas should be relations then depend on the media geometry as well as thermal
precisely accounted for when calculating the friction factor- properties. To demonstrate these dependencies, the closure coefficient
Reynolds number products. Idealizing the liquid-vapor interface as for the thermal tortuosity is evaluated based on the effective stagnant
flat can result in a significant error in prediction of fluid pressure thermal conductivity model proposed by Hsu et al. (1995) for peri-
drops in miniature two-phase devices. odically packed cubes, and the coefficient for interfacial heat transfer
based on a quasi-steady heat conduction of dispersed spheres im-
mersed in fluids. The salient features as well as the applicability and
Acknowledgments limitation of the newly proposed transient heat conduction model
Funding for this work was provided by NASA Grant NAG3- were discussed.
1870 and NSF Grant CTS-941458.

References
Cao, Y Beam, J., and Donovan, B., 1996, "Air-Cooling System for Metal Oxide
Semi-conductor Controlled Thyristors Employing Miniature Heat Pipes," J. Thermo-
physics and Heat Transfer, Vol. 10, No. 3. pp. 484-489.
Faghri, A., 1995, Heat Pipe Science and Technology, Taylor & Francis, London.
Fisher, L., and Martin, H., 1997, "Friction Factors for Fully Developed Laminar
Flow in Ducts Confined by Corrugated Parallel Walls," Int. J. Heat and Mass
Transfer, Vol. 40, pp. 635-639.
Hopkins, R., 1996, "Flat Miniature Heat Sinks and Heat Pipes with Micro Capillary
Grooves: Manufacturing, Modeling and Experimental Study," Masters thesis, The
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.
Hopkins, R., Faghri, A., and Khrustalev, D., 1997, "Flat Miniature Heat Pipes with
Micro Capillary Grooves," Proc. of the 1997 National Heat Transfer Conference,
HTD-Vol. 349, Vol. 11, pp. 71-80.
Nomenclature
a/s = specific area of fluid-solid interface per unit volume
d = diameter
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, e-mail: mechthsu@usthk.ust.hk.
Mem. ASME.
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF HEAT
TRANSFER. Manuscript received by the Heat Transfer Division, Mar. 31, 1997; revision
received, Mar. 25, 1999. Keywords: Conduction, Porous Media, Transient and Un-
steady Heat Transfer. Associate Technical Editor: M. Kaviany.

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 A = conduction layer thickness outside a sphere, normalized
by the radius of sphere
Afs = interfacial area between fluid and solid
B = conduction layer thickness inside a sphere, normalized by
the radius of sphere
Cp = heat capacity
G = thermal tortuosity parameter
h[s = interfacial heat transfer coefficient
/ = unit matrix
k = thermal conductivity
ke = effective stagnant thermal conductivity
M = interfacial transfer parameter
n = number of particles per unit volume
n = unit vector normal to the interface between fluid and
solid
Nu = Nusselt number for interfacial heat transfer
Pr = Prandtl number
q = heat flux across the interface of a dispersed particle
Qf, interfacial heat transfer per unit volume
r = radius
Re = Reynolds number
s = area vector normal to the interface
t = time
T = temperature
V = volume
Greek
a = thermal diffusivity
j3 = thermal diffusivity ratio of solid to fluid
4> = porosity
ya = length ratio of particle to unit cell
yc = particle touching parameter
A/s = interfacial thermal tortuosity
p = density
a = thermal conductivity ratio of solid to fluid
T = thermal diffusion time scale
Subscript
/ = fluid
p particle
s = solid
1 Introduction
Heat conduction in porous media consisting of fluid and solid
phases has been encountered frequently in many engineering ap-
plications, such as manufacturing of composites, oil production,
geothermal engineering, nuclear waste disposal, to name a few.
For steady heat conduction, local thermal equilibrium between
solids and fluids is usually assumed so that the macroscopic heat
transfer processes of the two phases can be lumped into a single
heat conduction equation for the mixture. The problem then be-
comes the construction of an appropriate composite model for the
effective stagnant thermal conductivity in the lumped heat con-
duction equation. This type of approach can be traced back to the
works of Maxwell (1873) and Rayleigh (1892). Continuing efforts
in the past 40 years include those of Deissler and Boegli (1958),
Kuni and Smith (1960), Zehner and Schlunder (1970), Nozad et al.
(1985), Sahraoui and Kaviany (1993), and others. Most recently,
Hsu et al. (1994, 1995, 1996) gave a more systematic account on
the modeling of the effective stagnant thermal conductivity. Ka-
viany (1991) and Cheng and Hsu (1998) provided detailed reviews
of the existing models for the effective stagnant thermal conduc-
tivity.
It has been generally realized for transient heat conduction that
the local heat conduction process between the two phases is not in
thermal equilibrium, especially when the difference in thermal
conductivity of fluid and solid is large. This requires the separation
of the macroscopic heat conduction equations for fluid and solid,
734 / Vol. 121, AUGUST 1999
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Fig. 1 The schematic of the porous media and the representative ele-
mentary volume (REV)
respectively. One then encounters the so-called closure problem
where the number of unknowns is more than the number of
equations. As a result, closure modeling, a scheme to construct
closure relations for the unknowns, is required. Furthermore, the
final equations are usually coupled with each other, and their
solutions can not obtained easily without employing complicated
numerical procedure. For these reasons, there exist little works on
the transient heat conduction in porous media. Amiri and Vafai
(1994) performed a study of transient convective heat transfer in
porous media based on a two-equation model. Quintard and Whi-
taker (1993) recently gave a comprehensive review of the closure
modeling for the transient heat conduction based on a volumetric
averaging scheme. They evaluated the closure coefficients by
numerically solving the microscopic temperature fluctuation equa-
tions for periodic array of particles. More recently, Quintard and
Whitaker (1995) investigated the constraints in using a local ther-
mal equilibrium assumption for transient heat conduction. In this
study, we shall follow Quintard and Whitaker (1993) by employ-
ing the volumetric averaging procedure to illustrate the closure
problem and then construct the closure relations. However, unlike
Quintard and Whitaker (1993), the evaluation of the closure coef-
ficient for tortuosity effect is done analytically based on the
lumped model of Hsu et al. (1995), and that for the interfacial heat
transfer based on a quasi-steady assumption of microscopic heat
conduction. The dependencies of these coefficients on the porosity
and the thermal properties of fluids and solids are illuminated. The
applicability and the limitation of the present model for transient
heat conduction in porous media are discussed.
2 Macroscopic Transient Heat Conduction Equations
Let's assume that the porous material consists of packed solid
particles surrounded by fluids as depicted in Fig. 1. For simplicity,
we should consider the spherical particles of uniform size. The
diameter, dp, of the spheres characterizes the microscopic scale of
the media. We also assume that dp is much larger than the typical
size of molecules such that fluid and solid microscopically are
regarded as continuum. Hence, the microscopic transient heat
conduction equations for the fluid and solid are given by
PfCpfjf=V-(kfVTf) (1)
and
P.CP, -jf = V (ksVTs) (2)
where the subscripts,/and s, refer to fluid and solid, respectively.
The proper boundary conditions on the fluid-solid interface Afs are
7} = Ts on Afs (3)
and
Transactions of the AS ME
 n /s kfV Tf = nfs ksV T on Afs (4) V (ksVT's) = 0. (12)
where % is the unit vector out normal from fluid to solid. The interfacial boundary conditions (3) and (4) now become
It is impractical to solve the equation system (l)-(4) with
details, especially when the number of solid particles is large. T'f=T',+ (t,-tf) on A (13)
Alternatively, we are more interested in the global characteristics
and
of heat conduction in the porous materials. To this end, we intro-
duce a representative elementary volume (REV) of size V as
depicted in Fig. 1. The length scale / of the REV is presumed to be n/l-Vr;=n/l-<rVr; + n/,-(o^7'I-V7>) on A (14)
much larger than dp, but much smaller than the global scale of the where a = kjks is the ratio of conductivity of solid to fluid.
domain under consideration. Hence, a quantity averaged over REV Since Eqs. (11) and (12) are linear, the interfacial boundary
is regarded as continuum in the global domain. conditions (13) and (14) suggest that the solutions to T'f and T's will
If Eqs. (1) and (2) are averaged over REV for the respective take the forms of
fluid and solid phases, the volumetric phase-averaged equations
after invoking the divergence theorem become T'f = fo(t, - tf) + fi d(Vtf - aVts) (15)
and
pfCpf ^- = V [kfVi^Tf)] + V (kfKfi) + Qfs (5)
T, = g'o(t, - 7 + g[ dp(Vtf - o-VJ",). (16)
a[(i - <f>)t,] The substitution of Eqs. (15) and (16) into Eqs. (11)(14) leads to
PsCp, equation systems and boundary conditions for/'0, fi, g'0, and g',.
dt
The details of their solutions depend on the structural geometry of
V [*,?((! - 4,)ts)] - V (ksAfs) ~ Qfi (6) the solid particles and require elaborated works. However, for the
present aim of constructing the closure relations, the solution
where < denotes the porosity and V the macroscopic gradient forms appearing in Eqs. (15) and (16) will suffice. The substitution
operator. In Eqs. (5) and (6), of (15) or (16) into (9) and (10) and then into (7) and (8) results in

1 \f, = G 0 (r s - tf) + G, (V7> - <rVJ,) (17)

T
f^ = v Z4s (V)
"Af, * "Afi
where

represents the thermal tortuosity effect and

G
o=y| J f'ods and G, = ^ | I f[ds (18a, b)
l
G/. = - kfVTfds = y ksVTsds (8)
and

represents the interfacial heat transfer. The last equalities in Eqs.
(7) and (8) are evident from the interfacial boundary conditions (3)
and (4). The negative sign in the last two terms of Eq. (6) reflects
the fact that the source terms in Eq. (5) have to become the sink
terms in Eq. (6), or vise versa. These last two integral terms
represent the additional unknowns to the equation system (5) and
(6). Closure modeling for these integral terms then becomes inev-
itable.
3 Closure Modeling
To close the equation system (5) and (6), we need to construct
the constitutive equations which relate the integral terms to the
macroscopically phase-averaged temperatures, Tf and Ts. To this
end, we first decompose Tf and Ts into
Tf=Tf+T}
and
Ts=ts+ T, (10)
where T'f and T's represent the microscopic temperature variations
from the phase-averaged values. With the REV length scale being
I, the time scale of the macroscopic conduction in fluid phase is
l2/af which is much larger than the time scale of the microscopic
conduction given by d2pla{ since I > dp; similar argument applies
to solid phase. With respect to the macroscopic process of long
time scale, it is plausible to assume that the local microscopic heat
conduction process is quasi-steady. Under this quasi-steady as-
sumption, the substitution of (9) and (10) into (1) and (2) leads to
Q = M0(t, - tf) + M, (V7> - aVt,) (19)
where
M kfVf'o- ds and M, = kfVt\ ds.
=V
(20a, b)
The above derivations are basically in-line with those of Quintard
and Whitaker (1993); however, here we provide a more concise
treatment in obtaining the relations (17) and (19) which in form are
slightly different from those of Quintard and Whitaker (1993). It is
important to note that the closure coefficients, G0, G,, M0, and
M,, depend only on the detailed local geometry of particles, but
not on the macroscopic quantities. For randomly distributed spher-
ical particles, the volumetric averaged tensor G, has to be axially
(9) symmetric to exhibit an isotropic property, i.e., G, = Gl where /
is the unit matrix and G is a scalar quantity. According to New-
ton's law, the locally interfacial heat transfer is proportional to the
total fluid-solid interfacial area Afs in REV. Therefore, we have
M0 = hfsafs where a{s (= AfJV) is the specific interfacial area and
hfs is the interfacial heat transfer coefficient. From the physical
point of view, a nonzero value in G 0 or M, will lead to a
convective behavior associated with the macroscopic temperature
gradient, where the vectors G 0 and M, resemble the convection
velocities. Quintard and Whitaker (1993) had argued that this
convective behavior does not have a physical ground since all
these transfer processes are essentially from conduction. They also
demonstrated mathematically that G0 = M, = 0. Equations (17)
and (19) then reduce to

V (kfVT'f) = 0 (11) A/s = G(V7>-o-Vr s ) (21)

and and

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 kjk,= 1 - y\ - 27,7. + 27c7 + o"7c7
^7,(1 yl) 2a-ycya(l - 7)
(27)
<r + 7<i(l _ 0 " + 7c7(l -
")
with

1-</> = (! -3yl)yl + 3yhl (28)

where yc (= c/a) is the touching parameter and ya ( = a/le) is
length scale ratio of the cube particle to the unit cell. For given yc
and c/>, the value of ya is obtained from Eq. (28) and the results of
kjks as a function of <x are then computed from Eq. (27). Figure
3 shows the results of kjkf when <j> = 0.36 and yc = 0.13. The
model predictions are in excellent agreement with the experimen-
tal data of Nozad et al. (1985). For nontouching cubes, yc = 0 and
Eqs. (27) and (28) reduce to
Fig. 2 The unit-cell geometry of the periodic array of in-line touching
cubes ail - 4>)2
(i-4>) 2 / 3 ] + a+ (1 - <7)(1 - 4>)' (29)

Qfs = hfsafs(Ts - Tf). (22)
Equations (5) and (6) with the tortuosity and interfacial transfer
terms given by Eqs. (21) and (22), respectively, are the governing
equations for the transient heat conduction in porous media. The
evaluation of the closure coefficients G and hfs then becomes a
critical task. We want to reemphasize that the values of G and hfs
depend only on the microscopic interfacial geometry and the
thermal properties of solid and fluid.
4 Lumped Mixture Model Under Local Thermal Equi-
librium Condition
Before evaluating the coefficients G and hf we now examine
the heat conduction in porous media under the local thermal
equilibrium condition. This condition implies that
T=T,= Tf . (23)
The constraints for invoking the local thermal equilibrium assump-
tion were discussed in detail by Quintard and Whitkaer (1995).
Equations (5) and (6), after invoking Eqs. (21), (22), and (23), are
added together to lump into the following transient heat conduc-
tion equation for the solid-fluid mixture:
(24)
(pCp)md^=V-[keVT]
where
(pcp)m = <j>pfCpf+ (i - 4>)PsCps (25)
is the heat capacitance and
ke = 4>k{+ (1 - <j>)ks + kf{\ - a)2G (26)
the effective stagnant thermal conductivity of the mixture. Again,
The predictions of kjk{ based on Eq. (29) for <J> = 0.36 are shown
in Fig. 3. For comparison, the predictions based on Hsu et al.'s
(1995) model for in-line two-dimensional array of cylinders are
also included in Fig. 3.
5 Evaluation of Closure Coefficients
We now return to the transient heat conduction problem of local
thermal nonequilibrium. To render Eqs. (21) and (22) applicable,
analytical expressions for evaluating G and hfs are required. They
are described below.
Tortuosity Parameter G. Since the value of G depends only
on the local interfacial geometry and on the solid and fluid thermal
properties, it is plausible to assume that the expression for G
obtained under the local thermal equilibrium condition can be
extended to the thermal nonequilibrium regime. This bears the
resemblance to the closure modeling of turbulent flows where a
simple flow is usually used to evaluate the closure coefficient in a
closure relation. Therefore, G is now obtained by solving Eq. (26):
G = - 4 > - c r ( l -</>) /(I - vV (30)
where kjkf is then determined by Eqs. (27) and (28).
To demonstrate the characteristics of G, the values of G were
calculated from Eq. (30) over a wide range of (j>, yc, and a. Figure 4
shows the results of G for different yc with <j>fixedat 0.36. The
distinct feature is that G is always negative. This has to be the
situation since 4> + o(\ - (f>), which represents the result of a lumped
parallel two-layer model, is the upper limit of kjkf. This implies that
10"
experiments 0.02
103 3D model c/a = 0.00

the value of ke depends only on the microscopic interfacial geom- 3D model c/a = 0.13
2D model, c/a= 0.00, 0.01 & 0,02
'/,
etry and the solid-fluid properties. Equation (24) resembles to the 10 2
K/VO.OI
transient heat conduction of a pure substance whose solutions
ke/kf /, 4&7/
subjected to different initial and boundary conditions have been
obtained extensively in open literature. Therefore, the main task
becomes the determination of the effective stagnant thermal con- c/a = 0.00
ductivity.
There exist several models for the effective stagnant thermal ,J^ $=0.36
conductivity as mentioned in Section 1. For details of them, the ^^
readers are referred to the review article of Kaviany (1991) and 10-2 10-1 10 10 2 10 3 10" 10 5

Cheng and Hsu (1998). Here, we adopt the lumped composite
layer model of Hsu et al. (1995) for in-line periodic array of
three-dimensional cubes with the unit cell shown in Fig. 2. Using
a composite layer scheme, they obtained the following expression
for kjkf.
ks/kf
Fig. 3 The predictions of the effective stagnant thermal conductivity for
media of in-line periodic array of three-dimensional cubes and two-
dimensional cylinders, and their comparison to experimental data of
Nozad etal. (1985)

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 ^ = 0.36 c/a = 0.1

| JIZ :: ||| *"""" H

It
it II =_Q.L

I
-t 7
j
tjII

II
-0.05

M'-/
/
it' i
\ L*
"i
T
Q -0.10 rJ* = J II
"T if -*''*'
1
f
-"
1it1
tt TKS
jT tt
' If tt %'
T
I . -' fl l
tt itj*
T tt ^
1 1
tt1
_.I ~ jj'07
0.001 0.01 0.1 10 100 1000
0.1 1000
a = ks/kf
a = ks/kf
Fig. 4 The effect of particle-touching parameter on the tortuosity coef-
ficient when the porosity is 0.36 Fig. 5 The effect of porosity on the tortuosity coefficient when the
particle-touching parameter is 0.1

the tortuosity effect is to reduce the effective thermal conduction by

increasing the thermal path, i.e., the parallel layer model has the spherical coordinate system satisfying the boundary conditions
shortest thermal path. As shown in Fig. 4, the lower the thermal 77 = tf at r = r and Ts = Ts at r = rh we obtain
conductivity of solid than that of fluid, the more the thermal path 1 1
undulates. The thermal path undulation is also enhanced by lateral 1 + T, (31)
particle touching. The lateral touching leads to a layer-in-series con- kAir
figuration to deter the thermal path. When a < 1, a higher touching and
parameter means more lateral touching to produce more deterring of
thermal path. The situation is reversed when a > 1. The heat con-
duction is now dominated by the touching along the thermal path in Ts = + T, (32)
kAv
reducing the tortuosity effect. At very high cr, the thermal lines are
basically straight (i.e., G 0) since the solid particles have little where q is the heat flux through the interface. Positive q implies
thermal resistance as compared to fluids. These thermal lines are that the flux is from solid into fluid. By invoking the interface
insensitive to the percentage of touching area. The case of a 1 boundary condition, i.e., Tf = Ts at r = rp, into (31) and (32), we
represents another interesting case where the solid and fluid have have
almost the same conductivity. Since G > - ( 1 - ya)[yl{\ yl -
2yt3) + 2y]yl] when a 1, the nonzero in G does not implies the 4Trrpkf
tortuosity effect is nonzero under this limit as the change in the B
(fs (33)
A
effective thermal conductivity due to tortuosity is given by kf(l - +
a)2G. For normally packed spheres, the touching parameter yc is 1 +A cr(l - B)
small and G can be approximated by - [(1 -</>)- (1 - </>)40], which where A = (r - rp)/r,, and B = (rp r^)lrp are the nondi-
equals to -0.088 if <j> = 0.36 as shown in Fig. 4. mensional thickness of the conduction layers. If there are n parti-
Figure 5 shows the results of G when the touching parameter is cles in REV, we have
fixed at yc = 0.1 while varying the porosity. Although the value
of G is always negative, the variation of G with the porosity is not Qfs = nqlV and afi = n^rj/V = 6(1 - </>)/?,,. (34a, b)
monotonic for different ranges of cr. In the range of cr < 0.1, Substituting (33) into (34a), invoking (346), and then comparing
minimal G occurs at <f> near 0.7 and when cr > 10, near </> = 0.4.the resultant equation to (22), we obtain
Note that G becomes zero for both cases of <f> = 0 and 1, i.e., when
the porous medium reduces to pure substance.
Interfacial Transfer Coefficient hfi. To determine the inter-
facial transfer coefficient hf we should base our analysis on
dispersed particles undergoing quasi-steady heat conduction. Sup-
pose a spherical particle at temperature T, is suddenly introduced
into a fluid of temperature Tf and, after a short time interval, the
microscopic thermal diffusion at the interface has reached a quasi- \ Tf
steady state. This quasi-steady assumption for microscopic inter-
facial heat transfer is consistent with the quasi-steady closure-
modeling scheme given in Section 3. By the same token, the
validity of the quasi-steady model requires that the time scale of
microscopic heat conduction is much smaller than that of macro-
scopic heat conduction. The stagnant interfacial heat transfer pro-
cess then can be simplified to a model consisting of two heat
conduction layers on the two sides of the interface as depicted in Fig. 6 The schematic of quasi-steady heat conduction of dispersed
Fig. 6. By solving the steady-state heat conduction equation in a particles

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 model depends only on cb and cr, but not on /3. This j3 dependence
is important as a consequence of enforcing the conservation of
energy within the two phases.
Two limit cases for Nu are of interests and are discussed in the
following. One is the case when the thermal diffusivities of solid
and fluid are small that the thermal boundary layers are thin, i.e.,
A and B are small. Under the limit of small A and B, Eq. (36)
reduces to B = V|3A which reconfirms the statement that the
diffusion layer thickness is proportional to the root square of
thermal diffusivity, and Eq. (35) becomes

Fig. 7 The dependence of the Nusselt number of interfacial heat trans-
fer on the local response time scale A and on the thermal properties of
two phases, a and ji. The results of Quintard and Whitaker (1995) for </> =
0.36 are shown to be a special case of A = 0.2 and /3 = 5.4.
Nu = (37)
A(l + Jfita)
The other limit case occurs when j3 is very small, i.e., when the
solid is thermally much less diffusive than fluid. Then B ap-
proaches zero and Nu 2(1 + 1/A). This case behaves quite
similarly to the case of a o; it also resembles to the mass
diffusion process in fluid phase, which depends solely on the mass
diffusivity of fluid.

6 Concluding Remarks
In this study, a two-equation model is proposed for the transient
hA 2a heat conduction in porous media under the nonthermal equilibrium
Nu = f (35) condition. Macroscopic equations for fluid and solid phases were
B aAa + aB
obtained from the microscopic transient heat conduction equations
1 + A CT(1 - B)
through a phase averaging procedure. The averaging procedure leads
where Nu is the Nusselt number for the interfacial heat transfer to the closure problem where the number of unknowns become more
coefficient, aA = A/(l + A) and aB = B/(l - B). From the than the number of equations. Closure relations for the two additional
conservation of thermal energy, A and B are related by unknowns, namely, the tortuosity and interfacial heat transfer terms,
are derived from the microscopic equations. The tortuosity constant G
3 + A B which appears in the closure relation is evaluated based on the lumped
j8A2 B2 (36) parameter model for the effective thermal conductivity proposed early
1 +A 1 -B
by Hsu et al. (1995), while the interfacial heat transfer coefficient hfi
where j3 = ajaf is the thermal diffusivity ratio of solid to fluid. is based on a microscopic quasi-steady assumption.
The values of Nu are evaluated from Eqs. (35) and (36) for The present result of G shows mat G is always negative, i.e., the
different values of A, cr, and 0. The results are plotted in Fig. 7 as tortuosity effect is to reduce the effective thermal conductivities of
a function of cr for A = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4, with |3 varying. Figure fluid and solid. There is a minimum value of G at certain porosity
7 indicates that Nu approaches zero when cr approaches zero. We because G approaches zero when the porosity approaches zero or one,
also find that Nu approaches a constant when cr approaches infi- i.e., when the media become pure substances. If the porosity is fixed,
nite. When cr approaches zero, the solid particles behave as being the absolute values of G appear to be largest as cr approaches zero,
nonconductive and little heat can transfer across the interface. On reduce monotonically as cr increases, and become zero as cr ap-
the other hand, when <x approaches infinite the particles become proaches infinite. This characteristics suggests that the results of G
highly transmittable to thermal conduction and the heat flux across shown in Figs. 4 and 5 should apply only to media with packed solid
the interface depends solely on the thermal conductivity of fluids. particles as originally implied from the model of Hsu et al. (1995). For
In fact, the interfacial transfer coefficient hfs becomes linearly materials of different microscopic geometry such as sponges with
proportional to the thermal conductivity of fluids and the propor- phase symmetric property, other appropriate model for kjks such as
tional constant depends solely on A. The dependence of the inter- the one proposed by Hsu et al. (1994) should be used. It is expected
facial transfer coefficient on the thermal diffusivity ratio j8 in the that the present two-equation model for transient heat conduction is
middle range of cr is interesting. From the quasi-steady model as applicable to a variety of media once the appropriate lumped param-
depicted in Fig. 6, the effective thermal conductivity of the con- eter model for kjkf is chosen.
duction layers near the solid-fluid interface resembles that of two The model for the interfacial heat transfer as proposed in this
layers in-series. This is implied from Eq. (35) where ajkf and study indicates that Nu depends on the microscopic geometric
aB/ks are the effective thermal resistances for fluid and solid parameter (or local response time scale parameter) A and the
conduction layers, respectively. With the normalization of hfs with material thermal parameters cr and j3. While the values of cr and j3
respect to kf, /3 is a measure of the relative thickness of the thermal are determinative once the materials are chosen, the value of A
layer inside the sphere. Higher )3 implies thicker thermal layer depends on how the particles are packed, i.e., on the porosity. For
inside the sphere, and therefore lower value of Nu as implied by dispersed particles immersed in fluid of large extent, the assess-
the layer-in-series model. ment of A is more subtle. However, for densely packed media it is
Quintard and Whitaker (1995) obtained an analytical expression expected that the thermal conduction in the fluid phase will be
for hfi based on the unit cell of Chang (1983). Their expression for largely confined by the neighboring solid particles. The inverse
Nu can be rewritten into the same form as Eq. (35), but the dependence of Nu on A as shown in Eqs. (35) and (37) suggests
coefficients aA and aB depend solely on the porosity. For com- that the interfacial transfer coefficient hfs is sensitive to the time
parison, the values of Nu are computed from their expression with scale chosen for quasi-steady analysis. The equivalent radius r1e3 for
4> = 0.36 and are also plotted in Fig. 7. We found that the results the unit cell of Chang (1983) is given by rjr = (1 - cb)" ' . If
predicted from our present model become identical to those from the microscopic interfacial heat transfer is assumed to reach a
Quintard and Whitaker's (1995) model if A = 0.2 and j3 = 5.4. quasi-steady state when the diffusion length of thermal boundary 1/3
However, it should be noted that the present model given by (35) layer in fluid becomes re, we have 1 + A = (1 - cb)~ . For a
and (36) is more general than Quintard and Whitaker's since their medium with a typical value of cb = 0.36, we find that A = 0.16.

738 / Vol. 121, AUGUST 1999 Transactions of the ASME

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 For medium with loosely packed particles, the value of A is conditions at interface of porous, plain media: Conduction," Int. J. Heat Mass
expected to be larger than 0.16. We note that the proposed model Transfer, Vol. 36, pp. 1019-1033.
Wakao, N Kaguei, S., and Funazkri, T., 1979, "Effect of fluid dispersion coeffi-
for the interfacial Nusselt number Nu is based on spherical parti- cients on particle-to-fiuid heat transfer coefficients in packed beds," Chem. Engg. Sci.,
cles of uniform size. For media of nonuniform and/or nonspherical Vol. 34, pp. 325-336.
particles, the interfacial heat transfer coefficient hs, is modified. Wakao, N., and Kaguei, S., 1982, Heat and Mass Transfer in Packed Beds, Gordon
Therefore, the dependence of Nu on A, a and j3 may have to be and Breach, New York, p. 294.
Zehner, P., and Schlunder, E. U., 1970, "Thermal conductivity of granular mate-
resolved greatly by experiments, even though Nu may still behave rials at moderate temperatures," [in German] Chemie. Ingr.-Tech., Vol. 42, pp.
similarly to that shown in Fig. 7. 933-941 (in German).
It should be emphasized that the present model applies only for
transient heat conduction, namely, only for stagnant heat conduc-
tion if the medium is filled with fluids. For fluids at motion, the
interfacial heat transfer is enhanced strongly by heat convection.
After compiled with earlier data Wakao, et al. (1979) suggested
that the Nusselt number Nu* for interfacial heat transfer with
Transient Temperature Computation
convection could be correlated as for a System of Multiply Contacting
3
Nu: = h%dp/kf= 2 + 1 . 1 Pr" Re (38) Spheres in a 180-Degree Orientation
where Pr is the Prandtl number and Re the Reynolds number based
on the particle diameter. The correlation (38) indicates that Nu* *
Nu = 2 (a constant) when Re > 0 (stagnant case). On the other W. W. M. Siu12 and S. H.-K. Lee1
hand, our present results shown in Fig. 7 indicates that the value of
Nu for stagnant heat conduction depends strongly on the local
geometry and the thermal properties of the two phases. In fact, the
results compiled later by Wakao and Kaguei (1982) showed that Nomenclature
there exists large scattering in the experimental data when Re is C = thermal constriction capacitance, W-s/K
small. The scattering may have been due to this dependence of Nu Fo = Fourier number, on/r2
on the local geometry and thermal property. The behavior of the q = heat flux, W/m2
interfacial heat transfer coefficient h% for transient heat convection Q = total heat transfer, W
in porous media remains unclear and will be investigated in a R = thermal constriction resistance, K/W
subsequent paper. T = temperature, K
Greek
Acknowledgment a = thermal diffusivity, m2/s
This work was supported by the Hong Kong Government 7 = ratio of contact radius to sphere radius, rjr,
through RGC Grant Nos. HKUST575/94E and HKUST815/96E. T = time, s
The author wishes to thank Mr. M. W. Wu and Mr. J. H. Sun for
their assistance in carrying out the numerical work. Subscripts
b = bulk temperature
c = contact
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Journal of Heat Transfer AUGUST 1999, Vol. 121 / 739

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