Numerical characterization of the thermal performance of static porous insulation layers on steel substrates in furnace tests

Abstract

The thermal performance of insulated steel plates in standard furnace tests is analyzed numerically. The effect of internal radiation heat transfer across the pores of the insulation layer is also estimated and included in the analysis. It transpires that for a fixed heating regime and substrate, the thermal performance of an insulation layer depends on three dimensionless heat transfer parameters corresponding to the furnace Biot number, the ratio of the thermal diffusion timescale in the insulation to the test duration, and the ratio of radiation heat flux to conduction heat flux across a pore. Furthermore, a method for characterizing the heat transfer environment within the furnace is also discussed. © The Author(s), 2010.