Comment on “Numerical approach to define a thermodynamically equivalent material for the conjugate heat transfer simulation of very thin coating layers” by P. Olmeda, X. Margot, P. Quintero, J. Escalona, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 162 (2020) 120377

In the recent paper “Numerical approach to define a thermodynamically equivalent material for the conjugate heat transfer simulation of very thin coating layers” by P. Olmeda, X. Margot, P. Quintero, J. Escalona, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 162 (2020) 120377 the authors develop a procedure to identify a thicker pseudo-material to mimic the dynamic response of a thin thermal barrier coating. A thicker layer is desired to allow efficient conjugate heat transfer analysis. They employ an ad hoc procedure for defining the thermal properties of the material to approximate dynamic similarity with low grid resolution. There exists a published analytical solution for this same problem that allows the pseudo-material’s thermal properties to be directly determined without a trial-and-error approach. The approach is elucidated and the effects of numerical resolution are explored.