Experimental, numerical and theoretical study on heat transfer in paper honeycomb structure.

The fabrication of most current thermal insulation materials from polymeric foams has created an unfavorable impact on the environment. With the aim of reducing the use of foam plastic, this paper focuses on honeycomb paperboard, an alternative thermal insulation material which is recyclable and cost-effective, and evaluates its heat transfer performance under different conditions. The experimental results show the effective thermal conductivity of honeycomb paperboard increases as the honeycomb height or the side length increases. This paper also establishes a novel theoretical model based on a newly developed convective heat transfer correlation to predict the effective thermal conductivity under different conditions. The model's results conform well to the experimental results, and the effect of convective heat transfer is investigated quantitatively using this model. As the vertical adiabatic boundary surfaces are replaced by honeycomb walls, the convection heat transfer strictly depends on the thermal boundary condition of the honeycomb walls and highly depends on honeycomb height and side length. • The novel theoretical models involving convective heat transfer are established under different conditions. • The different heat transfer paths are quantitatively investigated based on the proposed models. • Under the condition of hot-above and cold-below, convective heat transfer in honeycomb paperboard increases as the honeycomb height increases, but decreases as the side lengths increases. • Under the condition of cold-above and hot-below, convection heat transfer in honeycomb paperboard increases as the honeycomb height or the side length increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]