Thermal conductivity of anisotropic, inhomogeneous high-density foam calculated from three-dimensional reconstruction of microtome images

An effective method is developed to predict the thermal conductivity of thick foam insulation on offshore oil and gas pipelines. High‐resolution three‐dimensional (3D) images (212 megavoxels) spanning macroscopic sample volumes (38 × 19 × 4 mm3) are obtained and used to create a 3D geometry of the f...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied polymer science 2013-10, Vol.130 (2), p.1020-1028
Main Authors: Hegdal, Jan Peder, Tofteberg, Terje Rosquist, Schjelderup, Trond, Hinrichsen, Einar Louis, Grytten, Frode, Echtermeyer, Andreas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Application fields
Applied sciences
Cellular
Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products
Density
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Foams
Forms of application and semi-finished materials
Fuels
Gas industry
Gas transmission and distribution. Ships. Pipelines. Distribution networks. Compressors stations
Heat transfer
Materials science
Mathematical analysis
morphology
oil & gas
Polymer industry, paints, wood
Polymers
properties and characterization
Reproduction
Technology of polymers
Thermal conductivity
thermal properties
Three dimensional
Transportation and distribution of crude oils and liquid petroleum products. Ships. Pipelines. Terminals. Service stations
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An effective method is developed to predict the thermal conductivity of thick foam insulation on offshore oil and gas pipelines. High‐resolution three‐dimensional (3D) images (212 megavoxels) spanning macroscopic sample volumes (38 × 19 × 4 mm3) are obtained and used to create a 3D geometry of the foam. A gravimetric technique is developed to measure the mass density through the foam thickness and used to verify the 3D geometry. The local anisotropic thermal conductivity through the thickness of the foam is calculated using the finite element method on the 3D geometry and the results are verified against measurements and found to be in good agreement. Results show that thermal conductivity is dependent on morphology. For the highly anisotropic part of the foam where the long axes of the bubbles are oriented parallel to the axial direction of the pipe, the radial thermal conductivity is lowered significantly compared to more isotropic foam. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 1020‐1028, 2013
ISSN:0021-8995
1097-4628
DOI:10.1002/app.39238