Conduction heat transfer of and under floor pipe panel

One of the most commons and at the same time complex application of heat conduction in the home, its the use of floor heating system. This as other heating devices of daily uses can present different types of heat transfer such as: radiation (heat transferred from the hot surface of the floor of the air), convection (how water flowing thru the pipes) and the one of interest in this homework is the heat transfer by conduction that is transferred from the pipes to the floor surface. Under floor heating is a very simple process. Instead of using forced air systems, electric baseboards or hot water radiators, under floor heating uses a system of flexible tubing through which heated water travels. These tubes are set into a special layer underneath your flooring material. The heat radiates up through the floor and spreads throughout the room.

After doing some research for simplicity choose the heating system used in fig 1. There are some assumptions that must be made to continue the mathematical analysis of the heat transfer by conduction that the pipe produces on the floor. The first one is that the heat that the pipes radiate is constant over the inner surface of the floor. The second is that the insulation prevent an important loose of heat to the lower part of the floor. The third assumption is that the system is inn steady state (simplicity). Is well known that no system is in steady state at the beginning of the heating; but assuming that both internal and external temperatures of the floor (T1 and T2) are constant, the heat rate flow is equal. As well we assume that the aluminum diffusion plate is in perfect contact with the floor. So the hypothetical model that I want to create is to how calculate is the amount of heat transferred per time to the inner part of the floor to the upper part per unit of time. Using the figure to the right as reference: if the pipes temperature is constant and the aluminum diffusion plate is evenly heated at a temperature T1 and we know that the heat will flow down to the insulation layer and up to the floor. Let the temperature of the surface of the floor (outer part) be T2. The temperature between the aluminum

diffusion plate and the floor surface lets call it Tx, is irrelevant since the system is at Steady State it can be easily find. The other factor that we might need in our calculation is the heat is the thickness of the aluminum diffusion plate and the floor lets call it x(floor) and x(aluminum) For the heat transfer coefficients: Aluminum is a very good heat conductor; its K value (thermal conductivity is
1 1 1 1

237 Wm K

; the K values of the floor depends on the material:

237 Wm K
1 1

The cast concrete have a thermal conductivity of 1.13

0.14 Wm K

; while wood blocks are

. In this example the floor is made of wood hence its conductivity is lesser

than concrete. With this data we are able to calculate the total heat flow to the surface per A, Q (The area is 1m^2). We must remember that we can calculate a Q1 and Q2 since the materials have different coefficients and after plus the Q since Q=Q1= Q2 in steady state. Now using Fourier heat equation: So for the 2 faces of the aluminum: (1) Q1 =

So for the 2 faces of the floor: ( 2) Q2 =

After adding Q1 and Q2 we can eliminate Tx finding the overall Q. (W/m)

Q=Q1= Q2
This model neglect the fluid flux inside the pipes, turbulence and other factors, since Im only interested in proving the application of heat convection heat transfer by conduction over a slab; and this is the exact situation that happen when the aluminum and the floor contact each other. When the heater is off and suddenly turned at a final temperature B, the pipes will heat the aluminum plate from A to B. in this case the heat transferred from the aluminum to the floor will be unsteady and the differential form of Fourier heat equation must be used to calculate the Q: yT ^2

xt

^2

This equation will need further analysis and integration to be able to use it.