Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Surface Conductance Of A Copper Wire In A Fluid At High Pressure, Daniel L. Decker

Faculty Publications

The three-dimensional flow of heat in a wire carrying a current and immersed in a liquid is solved in detail. Using this exact result the surface conductance of copper in petroleum ether has been measured as a function of pressure to 40 kbars. The measured surface conductance for copper in a fluid is very small, justifying approximations which yield results that are in agreement with a simplified one-dimensional heat-flow problem. Surprisingly, even at 40 kbars pressure a very large fraction of the joule heating within a wire with a length-to-diameter ratio of ~100 is dissipated through the ends of the …