Prediction of the thermal properties of lotus-type and quasi-isotropic porous metals: Numerical and analytical methods

The geometrical effective thermal conductivity of different porous materials is investigated based on two different approaches: the finite element method as a representative for numerical approximation methods and the mean-field method as a representative for analytical methods. Different pore geometries, i.e., cylindrical and spherical, and different arrangements of these pores, namely in different periodic ways and random distribution are considered. It is found that the relative conductivity is practically independent of the specific pore arrangement. Only the morphology (spherical or cylindrical) of the structure influences the conductivity.