The effect of particle size distribution on some of the physical properties of particle packings

Abstract

The porosity of a packing of particles has been found to be highly dependent on its particle size distribution. Significant advances have been made in recent years with respect to the diversity and accuracy of mathematical models to predict the porosity from particle size distribution information. The continued development in this area has presented an opportunity to predict other physical properties from the particle size distribution. The aim of this work was to systematically investigate the effect of particle size distribution on the effective thermal conductivity of a particle packing, and the viscosity of a suspension of particles respectively. The investigation combines a model for predicting the porosity of particle packings, with models for predicting the effective thermal conductivity of particle packings, and the viscosity of suspensions of particles. Such combination enables the respective properties to be calculated as a function of particle size distribution. Results from the two proposed modelling approaches are compared to experimental data where available to validate the approaches. The proposed modelling approaches have been used to systematically investigate the effect of particle size distribution, on the effective thermal conductivity and viscosity. Through the use of the modelling approaches, some useful information has been generated for general application.