This study proposes a new fractal model to improve the accuracy of equivalent thermal conductivity (ETC) prediction for wood and determine how the wood’s pore structure influences ETC. Using fractal theory and mercury injection porosimetry data, a fractal model for the geometry of the wood’s pore structure was built. The geometric model was then transformed into an equivalent thermal resistance model to calculate ETC. The calculations produced an explicit expression for ETC derived from the wood’s structural parameters including the minimum and maximum pore apertures, aperture distribution, porosity, and fractal dimension. The model also includes a probability factor. The simulated ETC produced by the model was validated by experiments and it was found to be in good agreement with these. These simulation results will be used to study the influence of several factors on ETC. The proposed model has the potential to be able to predict and analyzing other wood properties such as its electrical conductivity, diffusivity, and permeability and the model can likely also be used to analyze other porous materials.

中文翻译：

---

用于预测和分析木材等效热导率的新分形模型

这项研究提出了一种新的分形模型，以提高木材的等效热导率（ETC）预测的准确性，并确定木材的孔结构如何影响ETC。利用分形理论和汞注入孔隙率数据，建立了木材孔隙结构几何形状的分形模型。然后将几何模型转换为等效的热阻模型以计算ETC。这些计算从木材的结构参数（包括最小和最大孔径，孔径分布，孔隙率和分形维数）得出了ETC的明确表达式。该模型还包括一个概率因子。通过模型对模型产生的模拟ETC进行了实验验证，发现与这些模型吻合良好。这些模拟结果将用于研究几个因素对ETC的影响。所提出的模型具有能够预测和分析其他木材性能（例如其电导率，扩散率和渗透性）的潜力，并且该模型也很可能也可以用于分析其他多孔材料。