Modelling and optimisation of thermal expansion and thermal conductivity using face-centred central composite design-based response surface methodology: An experimental approach

Due to the shortage in availability of potable water the risk of water scarcity has reached its heights. Researchers have developed methods to increase the availability of potable water in various ways. Solar desalination technique using solar still would assure to have efficient water yield. Thermal energy plays an essential role in the output efficiency of PV panel and the production of solar still. The purpose of our paper is focused on optimisation of thermal properties of Aluminium, Copper and Iron. To obtain the optimised value of thermal properties namely thermal conductivity and thermal expansion an approach called response surface methodology is used. It would reduce the count in which the experiment is repeated as it has a pre-determined set of input parameters and further helps in cost reduction. The optimised input parameters are the volume percentage of Aluminium-0.17 percentage, Copper-2.42 percentage and Iron-2.64 percentage. The optimized output values obtained are of thermal conductivity and thermal expansion. A method called the two-probe method is used for determining the thermal conductivity and the Buoyancy method helps in determining the thermal expansion of the considered samples. The obtained optimised values are inferred from ANOVA. For thermal conductivity, the Adjusted R 2 is 0.9796 and for thermal expansion the Adjusted R 2 is 0.9032. The Standard Deviation is observed to be 0.202 whereas the Mean value is observed to be 0.4666. The resulting optimised values of thermal conductivity and thermal expansion are 0.467 W/(m*K) and 1.534*10 −5 (1/K). This ensured the reduced repetition of the experimental run to identify the optimal output value of the system using response surface methodology through central composite design.