The imitation of the road surface temperature variation characteristics subjected to periodical ambient conditions

The imitation of the surface temperature variation characteristics of a road, a typical background for moving objects, is extremely important to the effective infrared camouflage and has been rarely discussed before. Therefore, one-dimensional heat transfer models for both the road and the imitative material were established to explore the influences of the latter's thermophysical properties on the surface temperature difference (STD) between them when subjected to the same periodical ambient conditions. It is elucidated that the STD is dominated by the thermal inertial of the imitative material when its dimensionless thickness is not less than 1.0. When the imitative material's dimensionless thickness is less than 1.0, the STD is influenced by both the thermal inertial and the dimensionless thickness of the imitative material. Furthermore, if the imitative material's dimensionless thickness is much less than 1.0, the STD is determined by the product of the thermal inertial and the dimensionless thickness of the imitative material. Especially, if the thermal inertial of the imitative material is the same as that of the road's surface layer, the STD approaches zero, as long as the dimensionless thicknesses of the imitative material and the surface layer are both not less than 1.0.