Thermal contact conductance for cylindrical and spherical contacts

A prediction methodology based on Monte-Carlo simulation model, developed for flat conforming surfaces in contact, is modified and extended to predict contact conductance between curvilinear surfaces like cylinders and spheres. Experiments are also conducted in vacuum for the measurement of contact conductance between stainless steel and aluminium cylindrical contacts and stainless steel spherical contacts over a range of contact pressures. The contact conductance between cylindrical and spherical bodies is, in general, about an order of magnitude lower than for flat surfaces in contact. Increase of surface roughness and decrease in contact pressure lowers the contact conductance. However, the influence of these parameters is larger than those obtained for flat surfaces. The prediction for different parametric conditions agree closely with those measured in the experiments.