Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Numerical Analysis of Thermal Insulation Performance in Heating Pipe Systems Using the Finite Volume Method
Submission Author:
Diogo Bandeira de Melo Castelo Branco , MA
Co-Authors:
Diogo Bandeira de Melo Castelo Branco, Lourival Filho, Paulo Roberto Campos Flexa Ribeiro Filho
Presenter: Diogo Bandeira de Melo Castelo Branco
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-1054
Abstract
This study investigates the performance of thermal insulation in heating pipe systems by analyzing the thermal and geometric parameters that influence heat flux. The steady-state, one-dimensional heat diffusion equation with constant thermal properties was employed to model the problem. Two boundary conditions were established for the interior: specified temperature and convection. For the exterior, only a convective boundary condition was applied. To solve the differential equation, the finite volume method was employed. The Thomas algorithm was used to address the resulting algebraic equations. The numerical code was implemented on the MATLAB R2022a platform. Different heat transfer coefficients, thermal conductivity, and insulation radius ratios were considered to analyze the impact of these parameters on heat flux. The results indicate that certain configurations intensify heat flux in the insulation for low values of the adopted parameters. Furthermore, assuming the fluid temperature to be the same as the wall temperature (and vice versa) is acceptable in specific practical contexts and can be adjusted in the safety factor calculation of the project. Using a dimensionless parameter for insulation thickness proves to be a useful tool for comparing different possibilities in thermal insulation pipe projects.
Keywords
thermal insulation performance, heating pipe systems, geometric parameters, Heat flow, heat diffusion equation, Finite volume method, Thomas algorithm, heat transfer coefficients, insulation radius, Biot number, dimensionless insulation thickness, energy efficiency, design strategies
