Diseño de banco de pruebas por modelos computacionales para determinación de conductividad térmica en materiales

Abstract

The present project aims to design and develop a test bench for the determination of thermal conductivity of materials, providing an accessible alternative to high-cost commercial equipment that limits applied research and technical training in Ecuador. The working hypothesis states that thermal conductivity can be reliably estimated using the Inverse Heat Conduction Method through a low-cost system supported by computational tools. The development of the project included the selection and design of the minimum required components of the test bench, the implementation of thermal insulation, and the use of Type K thermocouples. The thermal behavior of the system was modeled using MATLAB, Simulink®/Simscape®, and ANSYS, considering both steady-state and transient conditions. The results showed good agreement with theoretical values reported in the literature, with errors below 4% for high thermal conductivity materials under steady-state conditions, as well as an adequate convergence of thermal conductivity as a function of temperature in the transient regime. It is concluded that the developed test bench represents a viable, reliable, and low-cost tool for the thermal characterization of materials, contributing to experimental research and technical capacity building. Keywords: thermal conductivity, inverse heat conduction, numerical simulation, test bench, heat transfer.