Accurate meshfree particle framework for interfacial heat transfer incorporating thermal contact resistance

Wang, Z. ; Shibamoto, Yasuteru 

Accurate modeling of heat transfer across material interfaces is essential for predicting thermal performance of a wide range of engineering systems, such as electronic packaging and composite materials. However, it becomes particularly challenging in the presence of thermal contact resistance (TCR), which introduces temperature discontinuities and nonlinear interfacial behavior, especially when countering complex geometries or dynamically evolving interfaces. To address this, this study presents a robust meshfree particle framework specifically designed to model interfacial heat transfer and accurately capture TCR effects. The framework is compatible with general particle methods, such as smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and moving particle semi-implicit (MPS). Its key innovation lies in a novel interfacial flux formulation based on pairwise thermal resistance, enabling a mathematically consistent treatment of temperature discontinuities by rigorously accounting for both interfacial thermal conductivity and contact resistance. The method is validated through a series of benchmark problems, including interfacial conductive and conjugate heat transfer in both two- and three-dimensional domains, demonstrating superior accuracy and convergence compared to existing models. The influence of TCR is further explored through representative conjugate heat transfer scenarios. Results confirm that the framework effectively captures interfacial temperature discontinuities and maintains consistent performance across a wide range of material property contrasts. Overall, the method provides a physically consistent, accurate, and versatile tool for simulating interfacial heat transfer in complex multiphase thermal systems.