Radiation Heat Transfer Modeling in Electrorheological Fluids: The Effect of Field-Induced Chaining

Absorption is the dominant mode of attenuation of incident radiation energy through an electrorheological (ER) fluid made of Zeolite particles. A simple mathematical model of ER fluids with fully dispersed particles for predicting transmittance has previously been developed and proven to be experimentally sound. The present work develops a model which includes the influence of electric field-induced particle chaining on transmittance through ER fluids. The resulting model successfully predicts the enhanced levels of energy transport in the chained-particle state as a function of applied field strength and particle/fluid properties. The validity of the model is confirmed with experimental transmittance data and excellent agreement is observed. This model combined with data from previous studies will provide more complete models for radiative heat transfer in ER fluids and will provide a basis for optical chaining ER fluid state sensor development for use in the dynamic active control of ER fluid transport properties.