Numerical and Statistical Thermal-Electric Analysis of Metal Rods

This study presents a numerical and statistical investigation of the thermoelectric behavior of metal rods made of bronze (CuSn3Zn1), structural steel, and magnesium alloy under different electric currents. Numerical simulations were performed using ANSYS Workbench, while statistical optimization was conducted using the Taguchi method with an L9 orthogonal array. Material type and electric current were selected as influencing factors, whereas temperature and heat flux were considered the response parameters. Signal-to-noise (S/N) analysis was employed to evaluate the effects of the selected factors and determine their optimal levels. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to quantify the contribution of each factor to the thermal responses. The results revealed that the electrical resistivity of the materials significantly influences temperature and heat flux. Material type and electric current contributed 75.64% and 18.95% to temperature, respectively, while their corresponding contributions to heat flux were 85.99% and 7.86%, respectively, highlighting the dominant influence of material properties.