Effective thermal conductivity of composites reinforced with curvilinearly anisotropic inclusions with Kapitza contact resistance

Effective thermal conductivities of composites consisting of curvilinearly anisotropic inclusions with Kapitza thermal contact resistance between the constituents are considered. We show that the effect of these curvilinearly anisotropic inclusions can be exactly simulated by certain equivalent isotropic or transversely isotropic inclusions. Three different micromechanical models are employed to estimate the effective thermal conductivity of the composite. Interestingly, all these methods result in the same simple, closed-form expression.