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T. W. Tong
Assistant Professor,
Insulations—Part I: Analytical
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Ky. 40506
Study.
Assoc. Mem. ASME
The purpose of this work is to develop models for predicting the radiant heat flux in
lightweight fibrous insulations (L WFI). The radiative transport process is modeled
C. L. Tien by the two-flux solution and the linear anisotropic scattering solution of the
Professor, equation of transfer. The radiative properties of LWFI consistent with these
Department of Mechanical Engineering, solutions have been determined based on extinction of electromagnetic radiation by
University of California, the fibers. Their dependence on the physical characteristics of fibrous insulations
Berkeley, Calif. 94720 has been investigated. It has been found that the radiant heat flux can be minimized
Fellow ASME by making the mean radius of the fibers close to that which yields the maximum
extinction coefficient. The results obtained in this study are useful to those con-
cerned with the design and application of L WFI.
Introduction
Heat transfer in lightweight fibrous insulations (LWFI) has and scattering medium. The first method is widely used
been a subject of fundamental importance due to its wide because it is mathematically simple. The radiative con-
application in many engineering systems. The current U.S. ductivities that have been derived, however, contain a
energy situation has caused an unprecedented increased usage parameter which needs to be determined experimentally [5],
of fibrous materials as insulating media. Many new homes are This could be undesirable because the parameter not only
currently built with walls and attics insulated by LWFI and depends on the inherent property of the fiber material, such as
old structures are retrofitted with them. The increase in usage its chemical composition, but also on the physical structure of
has given further impetus to the research in this area. A better the insulation, such as the volume fraction and the fiber size.
understanding of the heat transfer characteristics of fibrous Whenever the volume fraction and/or the fiber size are
insulations is essential. Because of its widespread usage, a changed, the experiment for determining the parameter must
slight improvement of the insulating effectiveness would be repeated even though the fiber material used has not been
amount to substantial savings both in terms of total cost and altered. The second method requires solutions to the equation
overall energy consumption. of transfer as well as the radiative properties consistent with
In a two-dimensional slot filled with fibrous insulations and the solutions. It is the objective of this paper to develop
air, thermal energy could be transferred by thermal radiation, models for predicting the radiant heat transfer in LWFI by
conduction, and natural convection. The relative importance constructing approximate solutions to the equation of
of the different modes of heat transfer depends on the transfer. The two-flux and linear anisotropic scattering (LAS)
operating conditions as well as the properties of the in- models are employed. The radiative properties compatible
sulation. For example, it has been found that under moderate with these models are determined from consideration of
temperatures (300-400 K), air conduction and thermal extinction of electromagnetic radiation by the fibers. The
radiation are the two dominant modes of heat transfer in effects of chemical compositions and fiber sizes are studied by
LWFI [1-3]. In situations where the modified Rayleigh performing calculations for two different types of fiberglass
number (a measure of the buoyancy force to the resistance to insulations and various fiber size distributions.
flow) is large enough, natural convection may also become a
factor in the overall heat transfer process [4]. Although the Radiative Transport Theory
mechanisms of heat transfer in fibrous insulations are
generally well understood, quantitative computations are For a homogeneous planar system with uniform boundary
often severely limited due to the lack of theories describing conditions, the radiative heat transfer is one-dimensional and
certain heat transfer phenomena and/or the unavailability of the intensity of radiation is governed by the equation of
some of the heat transfer properties of the insulations. transfer which takes the form
This work is concerned with the prediction of the radiant di\(y,H,<t>) . 7
heat transfer in LWFI. Contrary to many people's belief that V- K7.
dy = -(ff«x- •°A)'AO'»^0)+<W6X( )
thermal radiation is only important at high temperatures,
studies have shown that it could account for as much as 30
percent of the total heat transfer in LWFI even at moderate + °,A. A(0'-0)i x (^'.*')rfO' (1)
temperatures [1-3]. A number of articles have appeared on
with
radiative heat transfer in fibrous insulations and a brief
review of the various transfer models has been given by Tong /Z = COS0
and Tien [5]. It can be summarized that there are basically two In equation (1), aa and as are the absorption and scattering
approaches in calculating the radiant heat flux. The first is to coefficients, respectively, / is the intensity, y the coordinate, d
employ a radiative conductivity and model radiation as a the polar angle, $ the azimuthal angle, ib the blackbody in-
conductive process. The second is to consider the equation of tensity, 7" the temperature, / the scattering phase function, 0
transfer governing the intensity of radiation in an absorbing the solid angle, and subscript A and superscript ' denote
spectral quantity and in-coming, respectively. It is implicitly
assumed in equation (1) that the participating medium is
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF
HEAT TRANSFER. Manuscript received by the Heat Transfer Division February isotropic, otherwise as and aa would be a function of
5, 1982. PaperNo. 81-HT-42. direction. In reality, even insulations with randomly oriented
o °a>
hx(T)d\
dr
= -/3(<r-<7+) (5b)
dr
ix(y,ix' ,<t>')dQ'd\ (2)
Here, q+ and q~ are the radiant heat flux in the forward and
where k is the thermal conductivity. Because the purpose of backward directions, respectively, the optical depth, T, is
this work is to develop models for predicting radiative heat defined as
transfer in LWFI, it is assumed that the conductive mode of dr=aedy (6)
heat transfer does not exist. Cases where conduction and
radiation are both contributing to the total heat transfer may The following substitutions have also been used in arriving at
be treated by superposition as a first-order approximation [6]. equation (5)
Hence, dropping the conduction term in equation (2) yields ae = as + aa (1)
oo /> oo p
P = (l-o> + 2ab) (8)
J Oa\ib\(T)d\=\ oaA ix{y,n',(t>')dQ'dX (3) «= -^ (9)
which is the condition for radiative equilibrium. Assuming the
boundaries are diffuse, the boundary conditions can be
written as a=jy(0'- Q)dQ' (10)
(4a)
i^y = L) = Bu/-K (4b) Equations (7), (9), and (10) define the extinction coefficient,
the single scattering albedo, and the back-scattered fraction
where B is the surface radiosity, L the insulation thickness, factor, respectively. In equation (10), o stands for the
and 1 and 2 denote surfaces 1 and 2, respectively. backward hemisphere. Notice that subscript X has been
Equations (1) and (3) are coupled through ibK (T) and have dropped from equation (5) on. The solutions for q+ and q~
to be solved simultaneously. Due to the spectral dependency can be obtained by first decoupling equations (5a) and (5b),
of the radiative properties and the complex mathematical then integrating the decoupled equations. The integration
nature of the equation of transfer, analytical solutions are constants are determined by applying the boundary con-
difficult to obtain. Very often, analytically well-based ap- ditions (equation (4)). The final result for the net radiant heat
proximate solutions are more desirable from an engineering flux is
point of view. In this work, two approximate solutions are
considered, namely, the two-flux and LAS models. The qT = q+-q- = (Bx-B2)/(\+pT0) (11)
radiative properties are assumed gray in both models. As will where subscript T is introduced to distinguish that the result is
be shown later, the radiative properties of the two types of derived from the two-flux model and r0 is the optical
fiberglass insulations considered do exhibit some gray thickness (aeL).
characteristics, and since many insulations are made from
fiberglass, the gray approximation is adopted. Linear Anisotropic Scattering Model. The LAS model
originates from simplification introduced to the scattering
Two-Flux Model. The two-flux model represents the phase function for spherical particles. Hence, in a strict sense,
intensity of radiation in the forward and backward directions the LAS model is only valid for media composed of spherical
by two different but isotropic components. This empirical particles, but because of its ability to simplify the integral
assumption raises the question of determining the radiative term in equation (1) it would be desirable if it could be used
properties which best represent the true properties [7]. The for studying radiative heat transfer in media containing
two-flux model employed here is derived on the basis that the cylindrical fibers. This is possible if the scattering charac-
Nomenclature
4/„
qL = (B]-B2)/(l+yT0)
where L stands for LAS model and
(13)
v2A ST Q rf(r)drd7,
Jo Jo
s (18)
This paper was presented in a slightly different form as ASME Paper No.
8I-HT-42 where an error was discovered in the numerical computation of the
A brief description of the derivation of b^ is given in the Appendix. integrations over r\ in equations (15), (18) and (19).
Champtier and Friese [12] and those below 7 /an are given by
Malitson [13]. They are used, along with some assumed fiber
size distribtuions, to calculate the radiative properties. Some
representative results are shown in Figs. 2-4. They are for
fibers with a Gaussian distribution of mean radius, f, equals
2.5 /xm and standard derivation, a, equals 1 /Am. The results
for the silicate fibrous insulation are from 4 to 30 /an. This
spectral range covers at least 90 percent of the blackbody
emissive power for temperatures between 350 K and 500 K.
The results for the pure silica fibrous insulation are, however,
WAVELENGTH, i(iim)
only obtained up to 26 /tm (the 4-26 fim range covers over 86
Fig. 3 Scattering and absorption properties of the pure silica fibrous percent of the blackbody emissive power for the same tem-
insulation with a Gaussian distribution of f= 2.5 ;im, a = 1 ^m
peratures), because the complex refractive index is not
available beyond this wavelength [12]. Since CTSX a n d oa\ a r e
i r proportional t o / „ , they are presented as as^/fv and aa\/fv In
general, c iX //„ is greater than aa^lfv, except at some small
regions where the reverse is true. At the short wavelength
region, aaX/fv is comparatively smaller. This is because the
imaginary part of the complex refractive index, which ac-
counts for the absorption of radiation, is smaller. Since a i x is
linearly related to bx, only results for bx are presented. Figure
4 shows the fibers scatter predominantly in the forward
direction. It is difficult to compare quantitatively the spectral
results as presented in the figures. But since the results
SILICATE
oscillate as a function of wavelength, it would be more
PURE SILICA convenient to assume the radiative properties are gray and
compare some averaged values. In this work, the wavelength-
averaged (arithmetic mean) values are compared. It should be
noted that the arithmetic means are different from those
16 20
obtained by weighting by another function. Just to demon-
WAVELENGTH, J(IJ») strate the difference, consider the silicate fibrous insulation
Fig. 4 Back-scattered fraction factor of fiberglass insulation with a
with / r =2.5 /mi, c = l /im and a temperature of 350 K. The
Gaussian distribution of r = 2.5 jim and <; = 1 ;im mean values, when the spectral blackbody emissive power is
used as the weighting function, are: as/fv = 1.987 x 10s
m " \ a„/fv = 1.200 xlO 4 m " 1 , b = 0.299. They differ by
glass, but with different chemical compositions so that its less than 15 percent from those given in Table 1.
effect can be studied. Various size distributions are also
assumed in each fiberglass insulation in order to investigate Shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively, are the wavelength-
the fiber size dependency. averaged results for the silicate and pure silica fibrous in-
The two types of glass that have been considered are silicate sulations of various size distributions. The size distributions
glass and pure silica glass. HsiehandSu [11] have reported the considered are: (/) uniform; (//') Gaussian with a = 1 /on; {Hi)
complex refractive index for a silicate glass with weight Gaussian with a = 2 /xm. For each size distribution, results
compositions: Si02 (73.5 percent), Na 2 0 (21.3 percent), CaO have been obtained for r equals 2.5 and 5 /im. Most LWFI
(5.2 percent). The values given are for a wavelength range of available commercially have a mean radius somewhere
0.32-206.6 /im. The complex refractive index for the pure between these two values. It is clear that as far as <rs/fu and
silica glass in the 7-26 /tin range can be found in a report by <7„//„ are concerned, doubling the mean radius has a far
EXTINCTION
— SCATTERING -
ABSORPTION
0 1 2
J3 L
4 5
RADIUS, r[iim)
1 _j JL Fig. 8 Radiative heat transfer for silicate fibrous insulations with
L = 0.05 m
RADIUS, r(iini}
LAS MODEL
EXTINCTION
SCATTERING
Fig. 9 Radiative heat transfer for pure silica fibrous insulations with
L = 0.05 m
Conclusions
Derivation for bx
The radiative heat transfer in LWFI has been modeled by
The expression for the scattered intensity from a single
two gray transfer models. They are the two-flux and LAS
filter, <j(£,r/), has been given in the literature [5,10]. The
models. The radiative properties needed in these transfer
scattered intensity averaged over all incidence is
models have been determined by considering the extinction of
radiation by the fibers. The radiant heat flux and the radiative
properties are found to be calculable once the physical /,({) = - [ " is(t,l)dri (Al)
IT Jo
characteristics of the fibrous bed such as the complex
refractive index, size, and volume fraction of the fibers are A scattering phase function based on is (£) can be defined as
known. This allows the influence of each of these properties
to be studied independently. M)= (A2)
Results obtained for silicate fiberglass insulations and pure
J4ir
silica fiberglass insulations show that the mean radius of the
fibers has a more pronounced effect than the type of size Combining equations (A2) and (10) gives
distribution and the chemical composition of the fibers. For a
given insulation density, the radiant heat flux can be j IsMdQ
minimized by making the mean radius close to that which
yields the maximum extinction coefficient. The radiant heat bx= (A3)
flux is found to be approximately proportional to the inverse f ls(t;)dQ
of the volume fraction of the fibers. It is also found that the J 4T
LAS model gives a higher prediction of the radiant heat flux To perform the integrations in equation (A3), we envision the
than the two-flux model. fiber being encompassed by a sufficiently large sphere so that
dQ = sinpdvdt;, where £ is the angle shown in Fig. 1, and v is
Acknowledgment the angle between the fiber axis and the center line of dQ.
The authors wish to acknowledge the joint support of this Thus, equation (A3) becomes
work by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. 37r/2 [ 1 i _
Department of Energy.
6X =
i ir/2 Jo
ls(£)smvdvd£
(A4)
References 2TT p 7T
js{£)smvdvd£
1 Verschoor, J. D., and Greebler, P., "Heat Transfer by Gas Conduction !o Jo
and Radiation in Fibrous Insulation," ASME Trans., Vol. 74, 1952, pp.
961-968.
When the integrations in equations (Al) and (A4) are per-
2 Bankvall, C. G., "Heat Transfer in Fibrous Materials," Journal of formed analytically and the resultant expression for bx is
Testing and Evaluation, Vol. 1, 1973, pp. 235-243. averaged over the size distribution, one obtains equation (15).