Effective thermal conductivity of binary mixed materials with and without heat generation - An empirical approach

An empirical approach to determine the effective thermal conductivity of a binary mixed material with heat generation is developed and reported. The approach is developed for a steady state problem with spherical geometry. The approach is based on two main ideas: a structural approximation and an empirical formulation. As for the structural approximation, the binary mixed material was assumed to be equivalent to a binary layered system of adjacent fuel and moderator layers oriented perpendicular to the heat flux. An empirical approach was then used to conduct a general correlation for the effective thermal conductivity of a binary layered system with heat generation. This empirical approach was conducted systematically by considering the parametric and operational condition effects of the system on the overall effective thermal conductivity. Results are then compared to some experimental data as well as with thermal conductivity values predicted by an empirical correlation that is based on experimental data.