https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2019-12737-4
Regular Article
Computational fluid-dynamics-based simulation of heat transfer through vacuum glass
1
College of Information Science and Technology, Hainan University, 570228, Haikou, China
2
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 20133, Florence, Italy
3
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Hainan University, 570228, Haikou, China
* e-mail: wanglei@hainu.edu.cn
Received:
8
February
2019
Accepted:
9
May
2019
Published online:
24
July
2019
The heat transfer process of vacuum glass is very complicated. In particular, the heat transfer process of functional vacuum glass, which includes the coupling of heat conduction, convection, and radiation, does not have an exact mathematical solution. The most important parameter representing the thermal properties of vacuum glass, the heat transfer coefficient, is difficult to measure online because it increases over time, thereby decreasing the thermal-insulation performance. Thus, measuring it quickly and accurately for a vacuum glass in use is difficult. This study was conducted to develop an efficient method to simulate heat transfer through vacuum glass. To this end, based on advanced numerical-simulation technology, a computational fluid dynamics software was used to analyse the heat transfer process, and the simulation results applied to guide and analyse the non-steady-state test method. It was found that when a circular heating plate is used to heat the side of the vacuum glass, the ratio of the radius of the heating plate to the thickness of the vacuum glass should exceed three. This approach guarantees that the centre of the heating plate undergoes one-dimensional heat transfer, and the temperature measurement at the centre of the non-heated surface is of practical significance.
© Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature, 2019
