Estimating thermal conductivity of lightweight nanoporous cement pastes using a hybrid fractal model

Jun Jiang (Lead / Corresponding author), Li Zheng (Lead / Corresponding author), M. Roderick Jones, Zhongyuan Lu, Jun Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
115 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Nanoporous cement paste (NCP) has been successfully prepared by adding nanopore-forming agent into cement paste, and the measured effective thermal conductivity (λe) of NCP shows that it has excellent thermal insulation performance. To promote NCP design and application, λe estimation is essential. In this paper, a hybrid fractal model (HFM) was developed based on fractal theory and related iterative algorithm using Sierpinski carpets, and electrical equivalent theory. Subsequently, this model was validated with published data and then used to predict the λe of the NCPs prepared. The results indicated that the multi-scale pore structure of NCPs was well simulated by the HFM with randomly generated Sierpinski carpet combinations. Having considered Knudsen effect of nanoporous structure, the λe of the NCPs could be well estimated using iterative algorithm, and the mean relative deviation was low to 4.2%, giving confidence in the application of the HFM method to nanoporous materials.

Original languageEnglish
Article number126941
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalConstruction and Building Materials
Volume327
Early online date26 Feb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Apr 2022

Keywords

  • Effective thermal conductivity
  • Fractal theory
  • Knudsen effect
  • Lightweight nanoporous cement paste
  • Sierpinski carpet

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Building and Construction
  • General Materials Science

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