Case studies on the influence of microstructure voids on thermal conductivity in fractal porous media

Several studies have shown that fractal geometry is a tool that can replicate and investigate the nature of the materials and their physical properties. The Sierpinski carpet is often utilized to simulate porous microstructures. By using this geometric figure it is possible to study the influence of pore size distribution on deterministic fractal porous media. The determination of the thermal conductivity can be carried out using the electrical analogy. So, microstructure models have been converted in electrical fractal patterns. This fractal procedure is characterized by a close relationship with the actual microstructure and prevent papers has been validate it with experimental data in a series of former papers. In this work it is possible to show how thermal conductivity changes in relation to pore size distribution and geometric microstructure parameters. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND) license.