Modeling Thermal Conductivity Measurement Apparatus

Project Description: A method of measuring the effective thermal conductivity of porous insulation materials has been developed using the comparative cut-bar methodology. The heat flow through these materials is primarily conveyed through three modes: conduction through the solid substrate, conduction through the stagnant gas trapped in the pores, and radiation across the porous regions. A method for isolating the contributions of each of these modes has been proposed through altering the environmental conditions during experimental measurements. However, the accuracy of the measurement method is impacted by the same environmental parameters as the heat transfer through the specimen. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis will be used to characterize the effects of environmental conditions on the experimental cut-bar apparatus to improve the accuracy of the models derived from the measurements.

Students:

Christopher Barrow, Graduate, 09/22/2020
James Davis Alexander Senig, Graduate, 06/06/2024
Colby Lee Gore, Graduate, 06/06/2024

Software:

ANSYS Fluent

CFX

Python

Collaborator:

Alexandre Martin
Savio Poovathingal

Publication:

Grant:

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