Thermal constriction resistance with convective boundary conditions. I. Half-space contacts (Q1113739)

Analytical thermal contact analysis in the past has largely been restricted to idealized boundary conditions on the contact surface. Recently, \textit{G. M. L. Gladwell}, \textit{J. R. Barber} and \textit{Z. Olesiak} [Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 36, 387-401 (1983; Zbl 0522.73006)] have outlined the efficient evaluation of the resulting integro- differential equation for four basic axisymmetric problems with uniform convective boundary conditions. This paper outlines in non-dimensional form, the variation of the thermal constriction resistance with Biot number for four mixed problem types on a homogeneous half-space. In addition, the thermal analysis is extended to include non-uniform flux and non-uniform convective conditions. In each case, the construction resistance is given as a compact expression, and for several cases accurate but simpler correlations are presented.