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Extension and optimization of a three-layer method for the estimation of

thermal conductivity of super-insulating materials

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DOI: 10.1063/1.4897507

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 Extension and optimization of a three-layer method for the estimation of thermal
conductivity of super-insulating materials
Seyed Amir Bahrani, Yves Jannot, and Alain Degiovanni

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 116, 143509 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4897507

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4897507
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/116/14?ver=pdfcov
Published by the AIP Publishing

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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 116, 143509 (2014)

Extension and optimization of a three-layer method for the estimation

of thermal conductivity of super-insulating materials
Seyed Amir Bahrani,1,2,a) Yves Jannot,1,2 and Alain Degiovanni1,2,3
1
Universit
e de Lorraine, LEMTA, UMR 7563, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy F-54500, France
2
CNRS, LEMTA, UMR 7563, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy F-54500, France
3
Universit
e internationale de Rabat, ECINE, Sala El Jadida, Maroc
(Received 18 July 2014; accepted 17 September 2014; published online 14 October 2014)
The three-layer method is a characterization method dedicated to the measurement of the thermal
conductivity of small samples made out of insulating or super-insulating materials. It is based on
the transient recording of the mean temperatures of two brass plates placed, respectively, above
and under the sample, one of them being heated. In case of a super insulating material, the rate of
heat flow from the heated to the unheated plate through the surrounding air is not negligible with
respect to the rate of heat flow through the sample. It is shown that introduction of a simple parallel
thermal resistance allows taking this flow of heat into account. An analytical model, based on a
new quadrupolar approach, was developed to estimate this resistance considered further as a known
parameter in the estimation process. An experimental study was carried out to characterize samples
whose thermal conductivities have been measured previously with another method. The deviation
of the estimated thermal conductivities from these reference values with respect to the three-layer
method results reaches 29% without considering parallel heat flow but is lower than 2% using the
new model. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4897507]

I. INTRODUCTION in the estimation process. The validity of the proposed

improvements will be demonstrated next through an experi-
Transient thermal characterization techniques can be
mental study.
classified in two categories. In the first one, the thermal per-
turbation is supplied by direct contact between the heating
II. ANALYTICAL MODEL
device and the material studied: It is the case of the hot
strip,1,2 the hot disk,3–5 the hot wire,6,7 the hot plate,8 and the An analytical model based on the three-layer method (cf.
three-layer9,10 methods. In the second one, this perturbation Figure 1) has been developed in the case of a square geome-
is generated by a radiation source as in the Flash method,11,12 try. In the three-layer method, a heat flux is applied during a
for example. few seconds to the heating element. Simultaneously, the tem-
The three-layer method9 has been especially developed perature changes of the lower (heated) and upper brass plates,
for thermal conductivity measurement of small samples insu- respectively, T1 and T2, are measured by two thermocouples
lating materials of low density because the existing methods and recorded. The experimental device is detailed by Jannot
are not suitable for precise characterization of this type of et al.9 in the case of a cylindrical geometry.
materials. In this study, the following assumptions are considered:
We have found that the thermal conductivities obtained – A 3D heat transfer with square symmetry: T ¼ T (x, y, z, t).
by the three-layer method are always slightly higher than
– The thermal resistance of the two metallic plates is
those obtained by the centered hot plate method.8 This differ- neglected, and therefore treated with the lumped body
ence may be explained by the deformation (even slight) of the approximation.
brass plates and by the parallel flow of heat from the heated to
– The thermal contact resistances between the sample and
the unheated plate through the surrounding air. This phenom- the brass plates are negligible in comparison with the ther-
enon may become important for super-insulating materials mal resistance of the sample.
since their thermal conductivities are lower than the air value.
To improve the precision of this method, the deformation of
the brass plates must be avoided and parallel heat transfer
must be taken into account in the model. The first goal is
reached by using square brass plates (45 mm  45 mm) with a
1 mm thickness instead of the 0.4 mm thickness plates initially
used. We also suggest taking into account the heat transfer
through the air by considering a parallel impedance estimated
by an analytical development and then considered as known

a)
Electronic mail: seyed-amir.bahrani@univ-lorraine.fr FIG. 1. Principle of the three-layer method.

0021-8979/2014/116(14)/143509/8/$30.00 116, 143509-1 C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

V

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 143509-2 Bahrani, Jannot, and Degiovanni J. Appl. Phys. 116, 143509 (2014)

The heat transfer equation and the corresponding initial where c2nm ¼ a2n þ b2m þ pa.
and boundary conditions are as follows: The boundary conditions can be written as
• Heat transfer equation:
dh
z¼0 k ¼ h1 h þ qcb1 eb1 ph  U
@ T @ T @ T 1 @ T
2 2 2 dz
þ þ 2 ¼ (1) dh
@x2 @y2 @z a @t z¼e  k ¼ h2 h þ qcb2 eb2 ph (6)
dz
with T ¼ T  Ti , where Ti is the initial uniform tempera-
ture of the system. with
• The heat transfer equation and the corresponding initial ð l ð l ð1
(I.C.) and boundary (B.C.) conditions are given below: 2 2
U¼ /ð x; y; tÞexpðptÞ
t¼0 Tðx; y; z; tÞ ¼ 0; (2a) 0 0 0
 cosð an xÞcosð bm yÞ dx dy dt: (7)
@ T
x¼0 ¼ 0; (2b)
@x In such a PDE (Partial Differential Equation) system,
which only depends on the space variable z, a classical quad-
@ T 
x ¼ l=2  k ¼ h3 T; (2c) rupole modeling13 can be applied for solving the problem.
@x
As seen in Figure 2, the quadrupolar matrices can be
@ T written as follows:
y¼0 ¼ 0; (2d)
@y
" # " #" #" #
@ T hð0; pÞ 1 0 1 0 A B
y ¼ l=2 k 
¼ h3 T; (2e) ¼
@y U h1 1 C1 p 1 C D
" #" #" #
@ T @ T 1 0 1 0 hðe; pÞ
z¼0 k ¼ h1 T þ qcb1 eb1  /; (2f)  : (8)
@z @t C2 p 1 h2 1 0
@ T @ T
z¼e k ¼ h2 T þ qcb2 eb2 ; (2g) And after a development
@z @t
" # " #
where a is thermal diffusivity of the sample; k is thermal hð0; pÞ A þ Bh~2 B
conductivity of the sample; h1, h2, and h3 are heat transfer ¼
coefficients of the heated, unheated, and lateral surfaces, U h~1 h~2 B þ h~1 A þ h~2 D þ C h~1 B þ D
" #
respectively (convection þ radiation); qcb1 and qcb1 are vol- hðe; pÞ
ume heat capacities of the heated and unheated plates; eb1  ; (9)
0
and eb2 are heated and unheated plates thicknesses; and l is
square plate side. where
An analytical solution of the temperature field
 y; z; tÞ can be obtained using three integral transforms.
Tðx; C1 ¼ qcb1 eb1 ; C2 ¼ qcb2 eb2
Two Cosine transforms in space, with respect to x and y, and    
4eb1 4eb2
one Laplace transform with respect to time, t, were applied h~1 ¼ C1 p þ h1 1þ ~
; h 2 ¼ C2 p þ h2 1 þ
l l
to the heat transfer equation.
(10)
ð l ð l ð1
2 2
hðan ; bm ; z; pÞ ¼ Tðx; y; z; tÞexpðptÞ and
0 0 0
 cosð an xÞcosð bm yÞ dx dy dt: (3) 1
A ¼ D ¼ cos hðcn;m eÞ; B¼ sin hðcn;m eÞ
kcn;m
In order to obtain adapted integral transform in space, C ¼ kcn;m sin hðcn;m eÞ: (11)
we consider an eigenvalue problem, in which an, bm are the
eigenvalues and cos ðan xÞ; cos ðbm yÞ are the eigenfunctions The expressions of the heated and of the unheated brass
in x and y directions, respectively. an and bm are solutions of plates temperatures in the Laplace domain are
the following relations:

xn tgðxn Þ ¼ H and xm tgðxm Þ ¼ H (4)

with xn ¼ an 2l ; xm ¼ bm 2l , and H ¼ h2k3 l.

The heat equation after the three integral transforms is

d2 h
 c2nm h ¼ 0; (5)
dz2 FIG. 2. Principle of quadrupole for the three-layer method.

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 143509-3 Bahrani, Jannot, and Degiovanni J. Appl. Phys. 116, 143509 (2014)

  !
U A þ Bh~2 X X cosð an xÞ cosðbm yÞ
hðan ; bm ; 0; pÞ ¼   ; (12) ~h ð x; y; z; pÞ ¼ hðan ; bm ; z; pÞ: :
h~1 h~2 B þ h~1 þ h~2 A þ C bm an
Nan Mbm
U
hðan ; bm ; e; pÞ ¼   : (13) (16)
~ ~
h 1 h 2 B þ h 1 þ h~2 A þ C
~
If we consider an average value of the temperature in x
In order to obtain the temperature field in the original do- and y domains which can defined as follows:
main (space and time), the inverse transforms can be used.
The norms Nan and Mbm of the two eigenfunctions cos ðan xÞ ðl ðl
4 2 2
~h ðx; y; z; pÞ dx dy:
and cos ðbm yÞ are given by the following equations: Tðz; pÞ ¼ (17)
l2 0 0
ðl
2 l l sinð2xn Þ Equation (16) becomes
Nan ¼ cos2 ðan xÞ dx ¼ þ ; (14)
0 4 8 xn
X1 X 1
hðan ; bm ; zÞ sinðxn Þ sinðxm Þ
ðl Tðz; pÞ ¼ : : (18)
2 l l sinð2xm Þ Nan Mbm xn xm
Mbm ¼ cos2 ðbm yÞ dy ¼ þ ; (15) m¼1 n¼1
0 4 8 xm
The mean temperatures for z ¼ 0 and z ¼ e can be calcu-
where Nan and Mbm can be used in the inverse transform as
lated as follows (with /ðx; y; tÞ ¼ /0 ðtÞ):
follows:

!
 sin2 ðxn Þ sin2 ðxm Þ h~2
/ 0 ð pÞ cos hðcn;m eÞ þ sin hðcn;m eÞ
2 b2
l2 k cn;m
XX
1 1 an m
Tð0; pÞ ¼ 4 !; (19)
m¼1 n¼1
~
h ~
h
1 2 sin h ð n;m Þ  ~
c e 
Nan Mbm þ h 1 þ h~2 cos hðcn;m eÞ þ k cn;m sin hðcn;m eÞ
kcn;m

2 2
/ ð pÞ sin ðxn Þ sin ðxm Þ
0
l2
1 X
X 1 a2n b2m
Tðe; pÞ ¼ 4 !; (20)
m¼1 n¼1 h~1 h~2 sin hðcn;m eÞ  
Nan Mbm þ h~1 þ h~2 cos hðcn;m eÞ þ k cn;m sin hðcn;m eÞ
kc n;m

where In the time domain, we calculate the temperature

ð1 change T2 of the unheated plate by a convolution product as
 ðpÞ ¼ L½/ ðtÞ ¼
/ /0 ðtÞ expðptÞ dt: (21) follows:
0 0
0
T2 model ðtÞ ¼ L1 ½HðpÞ  T1 ðtÞ: (26)
For a pulse
In this study, the same heat transfer coefficient is consid-
 ð pÞ ¼ /0 ½1  expðp tc Þ:
/ (22) ered for all of the faces (h ¼ h1 ¼ h2 ¼ h3 ). The purpose of
0
p providing this analytical model is to estimate the three pa-
rameters, k, qc, and h, by minimizing the sum of the mean
Finally, the inverse Laplace transforms of Eqs. (19) and quadratic difference between experimental (T2 experimental ) and
(20) can be computed numerically in order to return to the theoretical (T2 model ) curves, which is calculated from
time domain Eq. (26).
T1 ðtÞ ¼ Tð0; tÞ ¼ L1 ðTð0; pÞÞ; (23)
III. OPTIMIZATION OF THE UNHEATED BRASS
T2 ðtÞ ¼ Tðe; tÞ ¼ L1 ðTðe; pÞÞ: (24) PLATE’S THICKNESS (ep)
In this study, the thickness of the unheated brass plate
Considering the heated plate temperature change T1 as has been optimized. Figure 3 presents the relative standard
the input and the unheated one T2 as the output of the system, deviation (%) of the estimated parameters, i.e., thermal con-
the transfer function HðpÞ of the system can be described as ductivity k, volume heat capacity qc, and heat transfer coeffi-
cient h as a function of the unheated brass plate thickness.
Tðe; pÞ
Hð pÞ ¼ : (25) The relative standard deviation (%) of the estimated pa-
Tð0; pÞ rameters has been calculated as follows:

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 143509-4 Bahrani, Jannot, and Degiovanni J. Appl. Phys. 116, 143509 (2014)

FIG. 4. Schematization of the heat flows in the three-layer method.

– A heat flow u3 (convection þ radiation) through the envi-

FIG. 3. Relative standard deviations of the estimated parameters
(k ¼ 0:026 Wm1 K1 ; qc ¼ 2:106 Wm3 K1 ; e ¼ 5mm, and h ¼ 5Wm2 K1 ).
ronment which can be taken into account by a heat transfer
coefficient h.
The contribution of the conductive-convective heat flow
u2 may be significant in the case of super-insulating materi-
pffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffi als since in this case kair > k. In fact, the air envelop sur-
100  a11 100  a22 100  a33
rk ¼ ; rqc ¼ ; rh ¼ rounding the sample plays the role of the short circuit with
k qc h
this type of materials and thus must be taken into account. In
(27)
order to consider the contribution of u2 , a parallel thermal
with impedance ZðpÞ can be considered in the quadrupolar matrix
2 3 (cf. Figure 5).
a11 a12 a13
4 a21 a22 a23 5 ¼ r2T ½Xt X1 ; (28) " #
hðe; pÞ
a31 a32 a33
U
where ½X is the sensitivity matrix of T2 to the parameters k, " #" #
A0 þ B0 h~2 B0 hð0; pÞ
qc, and h. rT is the standard deviation of the temperature ¼ ;
change T2 measurement noise. h~1 h~2 B0 þ h~1 A0 þ h~2 D0 þ C0 h~1 B0 þ D0 0
The calculations have been implemented within the hy- (29)
pothesis of a zero noise for (T1 experimental ), since taking this
noise into account changes the results very slightly as shown where
by Maillet et al.14
The thickness ep ¼ 1 mm was chosen as an optimum for
the following reasons:
– The standard deviation of the thermal conductivity k does
not decrease significantly for a larger thickness.
– The standard deviation of the volume heat capacity qc is
only slightly increased.
– A 1 mm thickness ensures a good rigidity of the brass plate
and thus avoids surface deformation.

IV. CONSIDERATION OF COUPLING IMPEDANCE

In the three-layer method, the heat flow from the heated
plate to the unheated plate occurs by three different ways
(Figure 4):
– A conductive heat flow u1 through the sample, it depends
on the thermal properties of the sample.
– A conductive-convective heat flow u2 through the air sur-
rounding the lateral face of the sample. This flow is taken
into account in the model by coupling impedance. FIG. 5. Quadrupolar representation of parallel thermal impedance.

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 143509-5 Bahrani, Jannot, and Degiovanni
FIG. 6. K1 versus e/l for ec ¼ 26 mm.
A þ CO  B B 10 K until the temperature change T2 ðtÞ of rear face rises to
A0 ¼ D0 ¼ ; B0 ¼ A0 D0  B0 C0 ¼ 1;
1 þ CO  B 1 þ CO  B
(30)
where CO ¼ Z1 . We have tested different mathematical
descriptions for the impedance such as CO ¼ K1 þ K2 p1ffiffip
pffiffiffi
and CO ¼ K1 þ K2 p. We observed that the sensitivities of
the temperature T(e) to the parameters K1 and K2 are corre-
lated with the sensitivities to the thermal conductivity k and
to the thermal capacity qc, respectively. The identification of
K1 and K2 is thus impossible, and it was found that the value
of K2 has no significant influence on the estimated values of
the thermal conductivity. Thus, a simple coupling resistance
was further considered. An analytical model allows us to
obtain an expression of this resistance (see the Appendix).
This calculation has been confirmed by a numerical compu-
R
tation using Flex PDEV. The first result is that K1 is inde-
pendent of the thermal conductivity of the sample.
FIG. 7. (a) Experimental evolution of T1 ðtÞ and T2 ðtÞ and (b) experimental and model curves with least squares residuals 10 for expended polystyrene.
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J. Appl. Phys. 116, 143509 (2014)
Furthermore, Figure 6 represents the analytical value of
K1 as a function of e/l. It shows that K1 depends weakly on the
ratio of the thickness to the transverse dimension of the sample
(e/l). Thus, a constant value of K1 may be considered keeping
in mind the fact that K1 is a correction factor to conductivity.
However, K1 depends on the thickness of the boundary layer
ec that cannot be found analytically. A constant value of K1
will be assumed for a later experimental assessment.
V. VALIDATION OF THE ANALYTICAL MODEL
A. Experimental setup
The experimental device and process have been detailed
previously.9 In this study, we have modified the device ge-
ometry from a cylinder shape to square shape (with a
45  45 mm2 cross-section) and the thickness of the brass
plates were also increased to 1 mm.
The power of the heating element is adjusted in order to
maintain the temperature change T1 ðtÞ of front face around
2 K. Heating is then cut and the recording is stopped at the
time 2  tmax if tmax is the time at which the temperature
change T2 ðtÞ has reached its maximum (Figure 7(a)).
The measurements have been realized on three different
materials, from medium to super-insulating types as follows:
• Silica Aerogel (super-insulating material).
• Expended Polystyrene (highly insulating material) with
three different thicknesses.
• PVC foam (medium insulating material).
The thicknesses of the samples are reported in Table I.
B. Estimation from experimental results
The estimation of thermal conductivity is based on the
new quadrupolar approach taking into account a coupling re-
sistance as described previously.
 143509-6 Bahrani, Jannot, and Degiovanni J. Appl. Phys. 116, 143509 (2014)

TABLE I. Estimated values of thermal conductivity k for three different ma-

terial properties obtained by three-layer and hot plate methods.

K1 ¼ 0 K1 ¼ 0:9

e k dk k dk kref
Sample (mm) ðWm1 K1 Þ ð%Þa ðWm1 K1 Þ ð%Þ ðWm1 K1 Þ

Aerogel 5.08 0.0179 (0.6)b 29 0.0134 (1.0) 3 0.0138

Polystyrenec 3.35 0.0359 (0.6) 11 0.0328 (0.8) 1 0.0325
5.75 0.0396 (0.9) 18 0.0344 (1.0) 2 0.0336
10.26 0.0423 (1.0) 29 0.0329 (1.2) 1 0.0327
PVC foam 5.95 0.0685 (0.7) 6 0.0646 (0.7) 0 0.0648

a kk
Mean deviation dk ¼ krefref  100 ð%Þ.
b
For all of the samples three replications were performed in order to estimate
the relative standard deviation RSD (%).
c
This sample have been tested with three different thicknesses.

The thermal conductivity k, the volume heat capacity FIG. 8. Reduced sensitivities of the transfer function HðpÞ for expended
polystyrene with a thickness e ¼ 5:75 mm.
qc, and the heat transfer coefficient h have been estimated by
minimization (using the Levenberg-Marquart algorithm) of
is reproducible for all the samples. Thus, the results confirm
the sum of the quadratic errors between experimental
that the thermal conductivity may be estimated with a high
T2 experimental and theoretical T2 model curves, see Figure 7(b),
precision with the proposed device and method.
calculated from Eq. (26).
The value of K1 has been chosen in order to minimize
the deviations between the thermal conductivity values
obtained with the three-layer device and the “reference” val- VI. CONCLUSION
ues obtained with the centered hot plate method.8 The opti-
In this paper, two improvements of the three layer
mum value was found to be K1 ¼ 0:9.
method designed for thermal conductivity estimation of
Figures 7(a) and 7(b) present the evolution of the tem-
small samples of insulating or superinsulating materials have
peratures changes T1 ðtÞ and T2 ðtÞ recorded and simulated
been presented. First, it was shown that for thermal conduc-
from the inversion method for expanded polystyrene. Figure
tivity estimation, the optimum thickness of the unheated
7(b) presents the residuals (10) which is the difference
brass plate is ep ¼ 1mm. Furthermore, this thickness ensures
between the experimental and simulated values of T2 ðtÞ.
a satisfying rigidity of the plate. Then, the effect on the ther-
They show that the modeled curve is very close to the exper-
mal conductivity estimation of heat transfer from the heated
imental data.
plate to the unheated one through the surrounding air has been
Table I presents the values of k estimated with a cou-
demonstrated. It has then been shown that this transfer may be
pling resistance (K1 ¼ 0:9) and without (K1 ¼ 0) for all of
satisfactorily represented by a simple thermal resistance paral-
the samples.
lel to the sample. An experimental study showed that in some
The estimated values of k presented in Table I are
cases the deviation between the thermal conductivity values
obtained with K1 ¼ 0:9. They are in good agreement (devia-
estimated by the hot plate on the one hand and by the three
tion less than 2%) with those obtained from the centered hot
layer method on the other hand may be reduced from 29% to
plate method.8 On the contrary, the difference between the
2% using the proposed model with a parallel resistance.
estimated values of k obtained with K1 ¼ 0 and the reference
value of kref reaches values as high as 29% for the higher ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
value of the ratio e=k. These results confirm that it is neces-
sary to consider a parallel thermal resistance for samples The authors gratefully acknowledge ADEME, French
with a high value of the ratio e=k and it also demonstrates Agency of the Environment and Energy (Project SiCX No.
the validity of the proposed model. 1304C0012) for the financial support.

APPENDIX: ANALYTICAL MODELING OF THE

C. Sensitivity analysis
COUPLING RESISTANCE
The reduced sensitivities of the transfer function HðpÞ
In order to obtain an estimation of the coupling imped-
have been calculated, according to Beck and Arnold,15 using
ance K1, an analytical model has been developed considering
Eq. (26). Figure 8 presents an example of the reduced sensi-
the following hypotheses (Figure 9):
tivities for expended polystyrene with a thickness
e ¼ 5:75 mm. As expected, the curves in Figure 8 show a • The stationary regime is reached.
very high sensitivity to thermal conductivity (k @T @t ) com-
2 • The heat flux lines through the sample (internal flux) are
pared to the sensitivities to the volume thermal capacity straight, accordingly, the external fluxes are independent
(qc @T @T2
@t ) and to the heat transfer coefficient (h @t ). This trend
2
on the internal flow and thus of the sample thermal

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@T1 @T2
z ¼ 0 T1 ¼ T2 ¼ k ¼ k þ qð x; yÞ; (A3b)
@z @z
e
z¼ T2 ¼ 0: (A3c)
2
After a double integral transform with respect to x and y

@ 2 h1
 c2 h1 ¼ 0; (A4)
@z2

@ 2 h2
 c2 h2 ¼ 0: (A5)
@z2
I.C. and B.C. can be written as follows:

z ¼ ec h1 ¼ 0; (A6a)

@h1 @h2
z¼0 h1 ¼ h2 ¼ k ¼ k þ qða; bÞ; (A6b)
@z @z
e
z¼ h2 ¼ 0 (A6c)
2
with
FIG. 9. Scheme of calculating the resistance coupling. ð1 ð1
h¼ T cos ax  cos by dx dy; (A7)
0 0
conductivity; in order to facilitate calculation, we consider
the conductivity of the sample equal to that of air (Figure
where c2 ¼ a2 þ b2 and
10).
• The boundary layer is considered to have a thickness ec. ðL ðL
• For symmetry reason, the plane passing through the middle q ¼ qð x; yÞcos ax  cos by dx dy
of the sample is isothermal with T ¼ 0 and the calculation 0 0
are made for the following domain: e=2 < z < ec ; sin aL sin bL
0 < x < 1 and 0 < y < 1; the system is separated into ¼ q0 : (A8)
a b
two media: medium 1 for the positive z (air boundary layer)
and medium 2 for the negative z (sample). The solutions have the form
The heat equation is
h1 ¼ A expðczÞ þ B expðczÞ; (A9)
@ 2 T1 @ 2 T1 @ 2 T1
þ 2 þ 2 ¼ 0; (A1) h2 ¼ C expðczÞ þ D expðczÞ (A10)
@z2 @x @y
@ 2 T2 @ 2 T2 @ 2 T2 with
þ 2 þ 2 ¼ 0: (A2)
@z2 @x @y q 1  expðceÞ
A¼
I.C. and B.C. can be written as follows: 2kc 1  exp½cð2ec þ eÞ
B ¼ A expð2cec Þ
z ¼ ec T1 ¼ 0; (A3a)
q 1  expð2cec Þ
D¼
2kc 1  exp½cð2ec þ eÞ
C ¼ D expðceÞ (A11)

then

q0 sin aL sin bL
h1 ðz ¼ 0Þ ¼
2k a b
1  expðceÞ 1  expð2cec Þ
 
c 1  exp½cð2ec þ eÞ
(A12)

FIG. 10. Model coupling. and

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 143509-8 Bahrani, Jannot, and Degiovanni J. Appl. Phys. 116, 143509 (2014)

ð ð
2q0 1 1 sin aL sin bL Then,
T1 ðz ¼ 0Þ ¼ cos ax cos by
p2 k 0 0 a b ð1 ð1
  4q0 L2
1  expðceÞ 1  expð2cec Þ q2 ¼ L2 qðx ; y Þ dx dy ¼ K (A19)
 da db: 1 1 p2
c 1  exp½cð2ec þ eÞ
(A13) with
ð1 ð1
The average temperature in 0 < x < L and 0 < y < L K¼ J dx dy (A20)
1 1
ð1 ð1
2q0 L sin2 a sin2 b ½1  expðce Þ
T1 ¼ 2  which allows us to calculate the coupling resistance
p k 0 0 a2 b2 c
 T1 1 I
1  expð2cec Þ Rcoupling ¼ ¼ : (A21)
 da db; (A14) q2 2kL K
1  exp½cð2ec þ e Þ
2q0 L All the integrals have been calculated numerically to
T1 ¼ 2  I (A15) estimate the values of K1 presented in Figure 6.
p k
with ec ¼ ec =L and e ¼ e=L. 1
S. E. Gustafsson, E. Karawacki, and M. N. Kahn, J. Appl. Phys. 52, 2596
The heat flux can be deduced by (1981).
2
S. E. Gustafsson and E. Karawacki, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 54, 744 (1983).
3
@h2 sin aL sin bL V. Bohac, M. K. Gustavsson, L. Kubicar, and S. E. Gustafsson, Rev. Sci.
k ðz ¼ e=2Þ ¼ q0 Instrum. 71, 2452 (2000).
@z a b 4
Y. Jannot and Z. Acem, Meas. Sci. Technol. 18, 1229–1234 (2007).
5
1  expð2cec Þ R. Coquard, E. Coment, G. Flasquin, and D. Baillis, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 65,
  expðce=2Þ 242–1253 (2013).
1  exp½cð2ec þ eÞ 6
P. Andersson, J. Appl. Phys. 47, 2424 (1976).
7
(A16) R. Coquard, D. Baillis, and D. Quenard, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 49,
4511–4524 (2006).
8
and Y. Jannot, V. Felix, and A. Degiovanni, Meas. Sci. Technol. 21, 035106
(2010).
9
ð1 ð1 Y. Jannot, A. Degiovanni, and G. Payet, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 52,
 4q0  sin a sin b 1105–1111 (2009).
qðx ; y Þ ¼ 2 cos ax cos by 10
Y. Jannot and A. Degiovanni, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 84, 094901 (2013).
p 0 0 a b 11
W. J. Parker, R. J. Jenkins, C. P. Butler, and G. L. Abbott, J. Appl. Phys.
½1  expð2cec Þ 32, 1679 (1961).
 expðce =2Þ da db; 12
1  exp½cð2ec þ e Þ 13
A. Degiovanni and A. Laurent, Rev. Phys. Appl. 21, 229–237 (1986).
D. Maillet, S. Andre, J.-C. Batsale, A. Degiovanni, and C. Moyne,
(A17) Thermal Quadrupoles: Solving the Heat Equation through Integral
Transforms (Wiley, Chichester, 2000).
4q0
qðx ; y Þ ¼
14
J (A18) D. Maillet, Y. Jannot, and A. Degiovanni, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 62,
p2 230–241 (2013).
15
J. V. Beck and K. J. Arnold, Parameter Estimation in Engineering and
with x ¼ x=L and y ¼ y=L. Science (Wiley, New York, 1977).

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