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Optimum porosity of fibrous porous materials for thermal insulation

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Abstract

The porosity of fibrous porous materials is an important factor to the thermal insulating performance of the material. This paper considers both the optimum porosity of uniform fibrous battings and the optimum distribution of the porosity of non-uniform fibrous battings for thermal insulation. The former was determined by an approximate analytical solution and a numerical simulation by using finite volume method, and the latter was studied by applying simulated annealing method. The study showed that the optimum porosity of uniform fibrous porous materials is very much dependent on fiber emissivity, and fiber radius, but little influenced by the temperature difference of the boundaries. For non-uniform fibrous materials, there can be an optimum distribution of porosity, which can be predicted by applying the simulated annealing method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Ning Du, Jintu Fan & Huijun Wu

  2. School of Mathematics and System Science, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Ning Du

Authors
  1. Ning Du
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  2. Jintu Fan
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  3. Huijun Wu
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Correspondence to Jintu Fan.

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Du, N., Fan, J. & Wu, H. Optimum porosity of fibrous porous materials for thermal insulation. Fibers Polym 9, 27–33 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12221-008-0005-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12221-008-0005-5

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