23rd International Symposium on Transport Phenomena

Auckland, New Zealand

1922 November 2012

A Method to Extend One-Dimensional Thermal Resistance Concept to

Arbitrary Dimension

R. Hu, C.Y. Xie and X.B. Luo*

School of Energy and Power Engineering
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
*
Corresponding author: luoxb@mail.hust.edu.cn

Abstract simplification is widely used in the engineering applications but

In this study, we develop a method to extend the one-dimensional
thermal resistance concept to arbitrary dimensions based on heat
flow lines. Using the present method, the total thermal resistance
can be calculated by paralleled thermal resistances of heat flow
lines. Several typical examples, including the one-dimensional
plane wall, spherical system and cylinder system, were calculated
and compared with the formulas in heat transfer textbooks to
validate the present calculation method. The comparison
demonstrates that the present calculation method is able to be
used in thermal resistance calculation with arbitrary dimension
since the heat flow lines exist at any heat conduction processes.
1 Introduction
Thermal resistance is a measure of material's ability to resist heat
transfer [1-3]. It is such an important concept in thermal science
and engineering that it is widely used in many areas, for instance,
the building industry, the electronic packaging industry, the
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems [4-7].
Since the Fourier's law for heat conduction is analogous to Ohm's
law for electrical circuits, analogy between heat and electrical
conduction is an effective way to solve complex steady-state or
transient heat conduction problems. In the analogy, the
temperature T corresponds to the voltage V, the heat flow Q
corresponds to the current I and the thermal resistance Rt
corresponds to the electrical resistance Re. As shown in Figure 1,
like the definition of the electrical resistance, the thermal
resistance is usually defined as [8]
it may lead to much error especially when the system dimensions
are large [1,4,7].
In this study, we developed a method to calculate the thermal
resistance from the view of heat flow line. The total thermal
resistance formula was obtained for arbitrary dimensions and it is
validated in some simple cases such as plane wall, spherical
system and cylindrical system.
2 Re-examination of the Temperature Field
When a temperature gradient exists in a body, there is an energy
transfer from the high-temperature region to the low-temperature
region. The line or surface where the points share the same
temperature at a certain moment is called as isothermal line or
surface. As shown in Figure 2, the dash lines are the isotherms
and the solid lines are the heat flow lines. The direction vector
n of the heat flow line is the normal vector of the isotherm at P
point. According to the second principle of thermodynamics, the
heat-transfer rate q is opposite to n . The heat will transfer along
the heat flow lines along the direction of q, which are
perpendicular to the isotherms in the whole temperature field [8].

T T1 T2
=
Rt = (1)
Q Q
where Rt is the thermal resistance, T is the temperature
difference of the two ends, and Q is the heat flow.

Figure 2 Heat flow lines (solid line) and isotherms (dash line) in
Figure 1 Analogy between heat and electrical conduction. the temperature field.

From the definition of the thermal resistance, we may notice that
the thermal resistance is just onedimensional and it is well used
in one-dimensional systems. However, the systems in the real
world are usually multi-dimensions, and if we still want to use
equation (1) to gain the thermal resistance of the multi-
dimensional systems, we have to assume an average temperature
difference to represent the real temperature difference. The above
For a real body, there are millions of heat flow lines. Heat is
transferred along the heat flow lines and there is no heat transfer
between the flow lines since the neighborhoods of the heat flow
lines are isothermal. The heat flow lines may be neither straight
lines nor parallel, but they will not intersect each other because
the arbitrary point can't have two temperatures at a certain
moment. Therefore, the heat transfer along the heat flow line
could be assumed as one dimensional and each heat flow line has 1 l 1

a thermal resistance. For a real body, the thermal resistances of R = dx (6)
x
( )
0
the heat flow lines are paralleled and the total thermal resistance n 1 + 1 dA
1
could be calculated as the summation of the paralleled thermal l
resistances. When the area dA1 and dA2 are different, i.e. n1, equation (6)
can be simplified as
3 Thermal Resistance Calculation
1 l 1 l ln n
=R =
x
dx
(n 1) dA1
(7)

( n 1) l + 1 dA1
0

Figure 3 Elemental volume for a heat flow line.

In order to calculate the summation of the paralleled thermal

resistances, firstly, we need to solve the thermal resistance of one Figure 4 Model of a heat flow line in Case I.
heat flow line. Considering an elemental volume in a heat flow
line shown in Figure 3 to conduct the analysis, we establish the
custom coordinate system where x axis is along the heat flow
line. The heat is transferred from the infinitesimal area dA1 to
dA2, and the temperatures at the two ends are t1 and t2,
respectively. According to Fourier's law, the total heat transferred
along the heat flow line could be written as

t dt
= dA( x) = dA( x) (2)
x dx
where is heat-transfer rate, the thermal conductivity is a
function of temperature and dA(x) is the cross area along the x
axis. The thermal resistance of the heat transfer with variable
cross-section is [8]
Figure 5 Model of a heat flow line in Case II.
(t1 t2 ) 1 l dx
0 dA( x)
R =
= (3)
(ii) Case II
where R and l are the thermal resistance and length of the As shown in Figure 5, when the cross area of the infinitesimal
elemental volume of a heat flow line, respectively. To calculate element of the heat flow line dA(x) is proportional to the
R, we need to identify the dA(x). As shown in Figure 4, we equivalent radius' square r2, i.e. dA( x) r , then
2

straighten the curved heat flow line. r1 and r2 are the equivalent dA2/dA1=(r2/r1)2=n2. We assume that the infinitesimal element of
radius of the two infinitesimal areas dA1 and dA2, respectively. x the heat flow line is a thin truncated cone. Therefore, we can find
is the distance between the cross area dA(x) and dA1, l is the the relationship between the dA(x) and dA1.
distance between the dA1 and dA2. According to Figure 3, we can
obtain 2
x
dA( x) = ( n 1) + 1 dA1 (8)
x l
r ( x) = ( n 1) + 1 r1 (4)
l Similarly, the thermal resistance R can be calculated by
substituting equation (8) into equation (3) as
where n equals to the ratio of r2 and r1, i.e. n=r2/r1.
1 l 1 l
(i) Case I =R =

0
x
2
dx
ndA1
(9)

( n 1) l + 1 dA1
When the cross area of the infinitesimal element of the heat flow
line dA(x) is proportional to the equivalent radius r(x), i.e.
dA( x) r ( x) , then dA2/dA1=r2/r1=n. At this situation, we can After obtaining the thermal resistance R of one heat flow line,
obtain the relationship between the dA(x) and dA1 as we can obtain the total thermal resistance by considering that all
the thermal resistances are parallel to each other. Assuming that
x
dA( x) = ( n 1) + 1 dA1
the two end infinitesimal areas and the length of each heat flow
(5) line are dA1i, dA2i, and li, respectively. There are N heat flow
l lines, and the total thermal resistance Rtotal could be calculated by
Substituting equation (6) into equation (3) giving following formulas according to two cases.
 1
N n -1)dA , Case I
i 1i

1 i =1 l ln n
= R 1i
Rtotal 1/=
i
(10)
, Case II
N ni dA1i

i =1 li
Since the above total thermal resistance is derived from the
paralleled heat flow lines, no matter what the geometry of the
real body, the total thermal resistance can be solved precisely
once we know the distribution of the heat flow lines. In this way,
the one-dimensional thermal resistance concept can be extended
to arbitrary dimensions.

4 Application Examples of the Thermal Resistance

Calculation Method
Now we examine the applications of the present thermal
Figure 6 One-dimensional heat transfer through a plane wall.
resistance calculation method. In order to validate the present
method, we calculate and compare the thermal resistances with
those of some well-known examples.
4.2 Spherical System
4.1 Plane Wall
When the temperature is a function of the radial distance and is
As shown in Figure 6, we consider the plane wall with an area of independent of azimuth angle, the spherical system also falls into
A and a thickness of t. The temperature difference between the the category of one-dimensional systems. As shown in Figure 7,
two surfaces is t=|t1-t2|. The thermal conductivity is . If each the radii of the inner and outer surfaces of the sphere are r1 and
flow line is the same, the two end infinitesimal areas and length r2, respectively. A1 and A2 are the areas of the inner and outer
should be all the same. Since the areas of the two surfaces are surfaces of the sphere. The temperature difference between the
exactly the same, and the equivalent radii are also the same, as two surfaces is t=|t1-t2|. is the thermal conductivity. If each
shown in equation (11), the plane wall falls into both the two heat flow line is the same, the two end infinitesimal areas and
cases and the thermal resistance can be calculated by equation length of each heat flow line should be all the same. Since the
(10). inner and outer surfaces are both spherical surface, we have
A2 r r
= 1= 2 = ( 2 ) 2 A2 4 r22 r
(11) = = ( 2 )2 (15)
A1 r1 r1 A1 4 r12 r1
When plane wall falls into Case I, the thermal resistance of the
Therefore, the spherical system falls into Case II, and the total
infinitesimal element can't be calculated by equation (7) since the
thermal resistance can be solved by equation (10) as follows
ratio n equals 1. Therefore with equation (6), we obtain
1 r2 r1 1 1 1
1 l 1 l = = = ( )
0 dA1
=R = Rtotal (16)
dx (12) N
ni dA1i r2 4 r1 r2
dA1
i =1 li

r1
4 r1
2

And the total thermal resistance is

The result of equation (16) agrees with the thermal resistance
1 N
dA1i t
R
formula of a sphere in the heat transfer textbook [8].
=
Rtotal 1/= 1/ = (13)
i =1 li A
When the plane wall falls into Case II, with equation (10) we can
obtain

1 t
=Rtotal = (14)
N
ni dA1i A

i =1 li

The results of equations (13) and (14) agree with the thermal
resistance formula of plane wall in the heat transfer textbook [8].

Figure 7 One-dimensional heat transfer through a spherical

system.
4.3 Cylindrical System
 When the temperature is a function only for the radial distance 1 l ln( A2 / A1 )
and independent of the axial distance, the cylindrical system can Rtotal N
ni -1)dA1i
= max
( A2 A1 A1 )
= Rmax
also considered as one-dimensional system. As shown in Figure
8, consider a long cylinder with inside radius r1, outside radius r2,


1 l ln n
max i
and its length is L. A1, t1, and A2, t2 are the areas and temperatures (19)
R 1 l ln( A2 / A1 )
of the inner and outer surfaces of the cylinder. The thermal = min = Rmin
conductivity is . If each heat flow line is the same, the two end total N
ni -1)dA1i ( A2 A1 A1 )
infinitesimal areas and length of each heat flow line should be all 1 l ln n
the same. According to the relationship between the area and the min i

radius, we have Case II:

A2 2 r2 L r2 1 1 l
= = (17) Rtotal =N n dA N
= max =
ni dA1i A1 A2
Rmax
A1 2 r1 L r1

1
i
l
1i
1 l
Thus the cylinder system falls into Case I, and the total thermal i max

resistance can be calculated by equation (10) as

(20)
R = 1 1 l
= min = Rmin
total N
ni dA1i N
ni dA1i A1 A2
r r
(r2 r1 ) ln( 2 ) ln( 2 ) 1 l 1 l
1 r1 r1 i min
=Rtotal = = (18)
ni -1)dA1i
( 2 1)2 r1 L 2 L
N
r And the average thermal resistance can be calculated as

i =1 li ln ni r1 1
=
Rave ( Rmax + Rmin ) (21)
The result of equation (18) agrees with the thermal resistance 2
formula of a cylinder system in the heat transfer textbook [8]. With equations (19), (20) and (21), we can calculate the thermal
resistance of a real body. To precisely calculate the thermal
resistance, we have to obtain the accurate distribution of the heat
flow lines first. The solution of the precise thermal resistance
must be combined with the search of the temperature field. This
part of work is left for our future work.

Figure 8 One-dimensional heat transfer through a cylinder system
5 Conclusions
In this study, we presented the calculation method for multi
dimensional thermal resistance based on the heat flow line. The
total thermal resistance can be calculated by the paralleled
thermal resistances of the heat flow lines. The calculation method
was validated by some typical examples, including the plane
wall, spherical system and cylinder system. No matter what the
geometry of the body is, the present total thermal resistance
concept is applicative since it is based on the heat flow line. The
heat flow line is suitable for any dimensions, thus the present
thermal resistance calculation method can be extended to
arbitrary dimension applications.

4.4 Multi-dimensional System Acknowledgments

When it comes to the multi-dimensional systems, the thermal
resistance is more difficult to be obtained since the temperature
field become complex at this situation. In the engineering
applications, people usually assume an average temperature
difference to calculate the thermal resistance, which will cause
error. With the present thermal resistance concept, the precise
thermal resistance can be solved once the distribution of the heat
flow lines are known.
However, the accurate distribution of the heat flow lines are still
unknown unless the temperature field is solved. To calculate the
thermal resistance without the solution of the temperature field,
we have to assume the maximum length lmax and minimum length
lmin of the heat flow line to make the equation (10) applicable. We
also assume that the two end areas of the body are divided
uniformly, thus the ratio n is the same. Therefore, according to
the category of the two cases, the equation (10) can be rewritten
as
Case I:
The authors would like to express their great thanks to the
support from 973 Project of The Ministry of Science and
Technology of China (2009CB320203 and 2011CB013105).
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