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ADDITIONAL INSULATION MATERIALS IN A WINDOW FRAME: EXPERIMENTAL AND CFD ANALYSES

Piotr KOPER
Piotr KOPER
 and 
Marta JANKOWSKA
Marta JANKOWSKA
   | Aug 06, 2019
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Article Category: review
Published Online: Aug 06, 2019
Page range: 149 - 157
Received: Apr 09, 2019
Accepted: May 11, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/acee-2019-031
Keywords
© 2019 Piotr KOPER et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Tested window – a) cut out beam, b)drawing of the cross – section
Tested window – a) cut out beam, b)drawing of the cross – section

Figure 2.

Beam mounted in the window for measurements – inside and outside view
Beam mounted in the window for measurements – inside and outside view

Figure 3.

Scheme of the measurement station with the location thermocouples (T1 – T9)
Scheme of the measurement station with the location thermocouples (T1 – T9)

Figure 4.

Different variants of the tested insulation – photo and drawing of the cross – section: a) PIR board, b) aerogel mat, c) elements made using a 3D printer
Different variants of the tested insulation – photo and drawing of the cross – section: a) PIR board, b) aerogel mat, c) elements made using a 3D printer

Figure 5.

Temperature distribution over time during the measurements for different thermocouples (thermocouples location – Fig. 3; unmodified frame)
Temperature distribution over time during the measurements for different thermocouples (thermocouples location – Fig. 3; unmodified frame)

Figure 6.

Geometrical model of the window frame without additional insulation. Boundary conditions on the interior and exterior wall: green – opening, blue – air inlet, red – air outlet
Geometrical model of the window frame without additional insulation. Boundary conditions on the interior and exterior wall: green – opening, blue – air inlet, red – air outlet

Figure 7.

Fragment of the discretization mesh
Fragment of the discretization mesh

Figure 8.

Temperature and velocity distribution inside the unmodified window frame for experimental conditions
Temperature and velocity distribution inside the unmodified window frame for experimental conditions

Figure 9.

Temperature distribution inside all the tested profiles for uniform inside and outside temperatures (20. -20°C); a)unmodified profile; b) PIR board; c) aerogel mat; d) 3D printed elements
Temperature distribution inside all the tested profiles for uniform inside and outside temperatures (20. -20°C); a)unmodified profile; b) PIR board; c) aerogel mat; d) 3D printed elements

The results of the measurements

Temperature of thermocouple, °C
Variant T1 (outside air) T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 (inter nal air)
1. unmodified frame 4.2 5.4 5.8 6.9 9.1 9.9 12.3 16.2 18.7
2. PIR insulation 7.5 8.4 8.8 9.8 11.1 11.8 13.5 16.4 18.3
3. aerogel insulation 5.0 5.4 5.7 7.5 9.6 10.5 12.5 16.2 17.6
4. 3D printed elements 9.5 10.2 10.6 11.2 13.1 13.8 15.2 17.1 18.4

Thermal conductivity of materials used in the numerical model [11, 12, 13]

Material Thermal conductivity, W/(m•K)
PVC 0.17
Rubber 0.24
Steel 50.0
PIR board 0.023
Aerogel mat 0.014

Comparison of measurements and simulations results for the experimental conditions

Point number Temperature from simulations, °C Temperature from measurements, °C Difference between measurements and simulation, °C
Unmodified profile
2 5.3 5.4 0.15
3 5.4 5.8 0.4
4 8.3 6.9 -1.381
5 10.7 9.1 -1.61
6 11.4 9.9 -1.53
7 12.5 12.3 -0.21
8 15.7 16.2 0.49
PIR board
2 7.8 8.4 0.6
3 7.9 8.8 0.9
4 11.4 9.8 -1.6
5 12.5 11.1 -1.4
6 13.3 11.8 -1.5
7 14.1 13.5 -0.6
8 16.9 16.4 -0.5
Aerogel mat
2 5.4 5.4 0
3 5.4 5.7 0.3
4 10.0 7.5 -2.5
5 11.3 9.6 -1.7
6 12.2 10.2 -2
7 13.1 12.5 -0.6
8 16.2 16.2 0
3D printedelements
2 9.8 10.2 0.4
3 9.9 10.6 0.7
4 12.7 11.2 -1.5
5 13.8 13.1 -0.7
6 14.3 13.8 -0.5
7 15.0 15.2 0.2
8 17.3 17.1 -0.2

Heat flux and thermal transmittance of the profile for all the tested variants

Additional insulation type Heat flux per unit profile lenght with temperature difference 40K, W/m Linear (per meter length of profile) thermal transmittance, W/(m•K) Heat flux difference compared to the unmodified frame
none 5.405 0.1351 0.00%
PIR board 5.034 0.1258 -6.85%
aerogel mat 4.877 0.1219 -9.76%
3D printed elements 5.173 0.1293 -4.29%

Discretization mesh parameters for different models

Model number Additional insulation type elements nodes
1 None 592484 762270
2 PIR board 589848 760005
3 Aerogel mat 586312 757353
4 3D printed elements 621424 782904
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