Combined experimental and numerical evaluation of heat loss from natural fiber composites used as thermal insulation

In recent times, most of the industries have adopted Polyurethane Foam (PUF) as a thermal insulation for steam pipes. Although it is good in terms of thermal insulation, it is non-disposable and non-biodegradable, which makes it harmful to the environment. In case of a fire accident, it may release hydrogen cyanide, which is toxic and detrimental to human beings. Considering these factors in the current work, PUF has been replaced with natural fiber-reinforced composites. An Experimental comparison of heat loss from the steam pipe using two natural fiber composite materials with different thicknesses and fiber volume concentration has been carried out in this work. Banana and jute fibers are used as natural fibers with varying insulation thicknesses (t = 10 to 80 mm) and fiber volume concentrations (ϕ = 30–90%). Numerical analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics is also conducted to examine the temperature distribution within the thermal insulation. From the results, it has been observed that the optimum insulation thickness lies between 60 and 70 mm for both banana and jute composites. The decrease in heat loss is prominent after the fiber volume concentration increases to 60%. It is also observed that heat loss from banana fiber composites is less compared to jute fiber composites. Comparison of experimental data with numerical results has also been made in this work to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical analysis. From the comparison, it has been observed that the error value between the experimental and numerical analyses is within the range of ± 5%.