Abstract
The thermal conductivity of granular planetary regolith is strongly
dependent on the porosity, or packing density, of the regolith
particles. However, existing models for regolith thermal conductivity
predict different dependencies on porosity. Here, we use a full-field
model of planetary regolith to study the relationship between regolith
radiative thermal conductivity, porosity, and the particle
non-isothermality. The model approximates regolith as regular and random
packings of spherical particles in a 3D finite element mesh framework.
Our model results, which are in good agreement with previous numerical
and experimental datasets, show that random packings have a consistently
higher radiative thermal conductivity than ordered packings. From our
random packing results, we present a new empirical model relating
regolith thermal conductivity, porosity, temperature, particle size, and
the thermal conductivity of individual particles. This model shows that
regolith particle size predictions from thermal inertia are largely
independent of assumptions of regolith porosity, except for when the
non-isothermality effect is large, as is the case when the regolith is
particularly coarse and/or is composed of low thermal conductivity
material.