Applying artificial neural networks to predict the enhanced thermal conductivity of a phase change material with dispersed oxide nanoparticles

The weak thermal conductance of a phase change material (PCM) can be intensified by dispersing nanostructured materials called nano-PCM. Accurate thermal conductivity (TC) prediction of nano-PCM is essential to evaluate heat transport during phase change processes, namely, melting and solidification. The present study develops an artificial neural network (ANN) to forecast the TC of n-octadecane as a PCM with dispersed oxide nanoparticles. A total of 122 experimental datasets from existing literature with a wide range of temperatures (5-60 degrees C), nanoparticles (CuO, Al2O3, TiO2, and mesoporous SiO2), nanoparticle mass fractions (0.5-12 wt%) are compiled to train a multi-layered feed-forward ANN with Levenberg-Marquardt back-propagation algorithm. An optimal architecture of the neural network is acquired by varying the number of network hidden layers, the number of neurons in each layer, and the transfer function of layers. The minimum mean square error (MSE) of 1.3512 x 10(-5) is obtained for the best developed ANN. Results show that average absolute deviation (AAD) of 0.002458, mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 0.8260%, and correlation coefficient (R) of 0.999964948 are achieved for training data. Moreover, MAPE, AAD, and R values are, respectively, 0.9478, 0.002167, and 0.9999715861 for testing data. The maximum percentage errors of ANN computed values are 2.31%, and 0.812% for liquid and solid phases, respectively. This indicates that the ANN model accurately predicts the enhanced TC of nano-PCM across various oxide nanoparticles, temperatures, and nanoparticle loadings.

Automated summary

The study successfully predicted the thermal conductivity of PCM with dispersed oxide nanoparticles using an artificial neural network model. The training data showed an average absolute deviation of 0.002458, mean absolute percentage error of 0.8260%, and correlation coefficient of 0.999964948, while the corresponding values for testing data were 0.9478, 0.002167, and 0.9999715861.