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Heat transfer in packed and rotated beds is important to a
variety of industries and impacts processes as varied as calcining
kilns, coating operations, sintering of powdered metals, and firing of
green ceramics. In addition, this problem has close connections to
heat transfer in porous media as well as in electronic materials.
While continuum models exist for these types of problems, they require
accurate estimates of averaged quantities such as thermal conductivity,
heat capacity, etc. which can often only be verified experimentally.
On the other hand, combining discrete simulation techniques with
continuum models has found success in modeling such fluid/particle
systems as pneumatic conveyors and fluidized beds. A similar method
can be applied to the study of heat transfer in discrete systems. This
project would combine elements of theory, computation, and experiment.
The initial focus would be on gaining an understanding of stress
effects on contact conductance in a packed bed -- neglecting
interstitial fluid; however, a wealth of future problems come to mind:
heat transfer in packed beds with forced and natural convection, drying
in rotary kilns, and heat transfer in fluidized beds.
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