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Gap Conductance at the Interface

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Thermal Contact Conductance

Part of the book series: Mechanical Engineering Series ((MES))

Abstract

At low contact pressures (of the order of 10−4 H or less), it can be shown that the heat transfer across a joint occurs mainly through the gas gap (Madhusudana 1993). Boeschoten and van der Held (1957) also observed that the heat transfer was predominantly through the gas gap for “low [up to several kg/(sq cm)]” contact pressure. Lang (1962) pointed out that convection heat transfer is usually negligible for gap widths of up to about 6 mm (corresponding to a Grashof number of about 2000 for air at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 300 K). Since the mean separation between contacting solid surfaces is some three orders of magnitude smaller than this dimension, it is clear that convection cannot be the mode of heat transfer across the gap. We conclude that the heat transfer across the gas-filled voids, interspersed between the actual contact spots, is principally by conduction, as already noted.

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  1. 31 Dawes St Little Bay, Sydney, NSW, 2036, Australia

    C. V. Madhusudana

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  1. C. V. Madhusudana
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Correspondence to C. V. Madhusudana .

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Madhusudana, C.V. (2014). Gap Conductance at the Interface. In: Thermal Contact Conductance. Mechanical Engineering Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01276-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01276-6_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01275-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01276-6

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