Geometrical considerations in the Control and manipulation of conductive heat flux

TL;DR

This paper explores how rotating multilayered composite materials affects heat flux control by inducing anisotropy and bending heat flow lines, depending on orientation and material properties.

Contribution

It introduces a geometrical approach to manipulate heat flux via composite layer orientation, highlighting the role of thermal conductivity tensor modifications.

Findings

Heat flux lines bend with composite rotation.

Anisotropy depends on layer orientation and material ratios.

Thermal conductivity tensor gains off-diagonal components.

Abstract

We indicate the fundamental rationale underlying the control of temperature and the manipulation of thermal flux, with reference to a multilayered composite material. We show that when the orientation of the layers in the composite is physically rotated with respect to a constant temperature gradient, there would then be a corresponding introduction of off-diagonal components in the thermal conductivity tensor and thermal anisotropy is induced. The consequent bending of the heat flux lines is found to depend on both the (i) composite rotation angle, as well as the (ii) ratio of the thermal conductivities of the constituent materials.