Numerical simulation and experiment verified for heat transfer processes of high-property inorganic fiber woven fabrics

Numerical simulation is an effective method to study the heat transfer of fabric. However, the interlaced structure of the woven fabric deforms warp yarns and weft yarns to varying degrees, so it is not easy to obtain an effective model of the fabric and the effective thermophysical parameters of the yarns. In addition, at a high temperature, the anisotropy and temperature-dependent property of the thermal conductivity of the yarn also need to be considered. Therefore, this work established a transient heat transfer simulation model based on the effective woven fabric structure and the effective thermophysical parameters of yarns to study the heat transfer processes of three kinds of high-temperature-resistant inorganic fiber (quartz fiber, high-silica glass fiber and basalt fiber) fabrics at different temperatures (especially high temperature). The fabrics were embedded in epoxy resin and made into slices, and then cross-sectional slices of the woven fabrics were observed through a three-dimensional microscope to construct the fabric geometric models. Taking into account the influence of warp yarn and weft yarn deformations in the fabric structure on the fiber volume fractions and the anisotropic and temperature-dependent property of thermal conductivities of the yarns, the thermophysical parameters of warp yarns and weft yarns in the woven fabrics were optimized. Then the fabrics were simulated for transient heat transfer at different temperatures (373.15, 573.15 and 773.15 K). The simulation results were verified through experiments. The good correlation between the two results proved the effectiveness of the simulation method.