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Coupled heat transfer in low density EPS foams/theoretical and experimental results.

Author(s) : COQUARD R., BAILLIS D., QUENARD D.

Summary

Heat transfer in expanded polystyrene (EPS) foams, which are commonly used for the insulation of buildings, is the result of a coupling between heat conduction and radiative heat transfer. Although this latter one could represent an important part of the total heat flux, the previous studies which dealt with the modelling of the thermal properties of EPS foams always used simplified model to take into account the propagation of the thermal radiation. In this study, the authors propose a detailed model for the computations of the monochromatic radiative properties of EPS foams. The results of the model have been validated by comparing theoretical and experimental spectrometric measurements on thin slices of foams. Thereafter, the theoretical radiative properties obtained have been used in a numerical resolution of the coupled heat transfer based on the discrete ordinates method to investigate the influence of the structural properties of the foam on their insulating properties. The conclusions could be very useful for the optimisation of the manufacturing process.

Details

  • Original title: Coupled heat transfer in low density EPS foams/theoretical and experimental results.
  • Record ID : 2008-1254
  • Languages: English
  • Publication date: 2006/11/20
  • Source: Source: Climamed 2006, Lyon
    PI-2.5; 173-183; fig.; tabl.; 14 ref.

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