This study used a two part process to create a system that would predict the thermal conductivity of insulated building materials containing plant materials. A finite-discrete element method was used to predict the thermal conductivity of a packed bed of sunflower pith, while a discrete element method was used to predict how aggregates would fill a volume element. These were used to predict the thermal conductivity of the heterogeneous volume. ...
Rigid foams were prepared using quebracho tannins and their physical and thermal properties were determined experimentally. These properties were then compared to those of rigid foams derived from mimosa tannins and pine tannins to determine if the nature of the flavonoid affects the properties of the foams. It was found that the preparation of the quebracho tannin-based foams involved the same formulation as that of mimosa tannin-based foams, whereas the ...
The transient plane source technique was used to measure the thermal conductivity of construction materials at room temperatures. The samples were tested under both dry and partially wet conditions. It was found that the thermal conductivity increased significantly with increasing water content....
This article is an excellent showcase of the ability of the TPS to measure the thermal conductivity of saturated samples. The author compares the thermal property measurement of dry and wet (40% by wet weight) building materials. The fast test time of the TPS enables it to get a reading prior to moisture redistribution affecting the measurement. A low temperature rise during the test further facilitates this. The design of the ...
A composite phase change material (PCM) was formulated from commercial blended paraffin and a styrene-butadiene-styrene block. The thermo-physical properties of this composite PCM were then evaluated using the transient plane source method and differential scanning calorimetry. It was determined that there was a significant difference in the thermal conductivity of the PCM in the solid state when compared to that in the liquid state. The second part of this study ...
