Exercise 1

Steady state heat conduction in a multiwall:

minimum thickness for a thermal protection system
High-temperature reusable surface insulation (HRSI)
HRSI tiles (black in color) provide protection against temperatures up to 1530 K (1260° C). There
are 20,548 HRSI tiles which cover the landing gear doors, external tank umbilical connection
doors, and the rest of the orbiter's under surfaces. They are used in areas on the upper forward
fuselage, parts of the orbital maneuvering system pods, vertical stabilizer leading edge, elevon
trailing edges, and upper body flap surface as well. They vary in thickness from one inch (2.54
cm) to five inches (12.7 cm), depending upon the heat load encountered during reentry. Except
for closeout areas, these tiles are normally 6 by 6 inch squares (15.2 by 15.2 cm). The HRSI tile
is basically a composite of high purity (99.8%) silica fibers (10%) and empty space (90%) that
exhibits ceramic bonding. The high percentage of voids is the reason for the low density (9 lb/ft³)
of the material making it light enough for spaceflight and strong enough to withstand the required
G forces. The HRSI tiles have the black glossy appearance because of waterproofing coating
made of tetrasilicide and borosilicate glass.

 
HRSI is used in conjunction with stronger, waterproof materials in the Space Shuttle
heatshielding to give a balance of strength & resistance to the high re-entry temperatures
experienced in Earth's upper atmosphere.
Problem
The HRSI comprises three layers that protect the structure in aluminum as shown in the figure.
The first layer is in RCG (reaction cured glass) whose temperature at radiative equilibrium is
1530 K, the second layer is a silica insulation and the third layer is a strain isolator pad (SIP)
(whose maximum allowable temperature is 700 K). The structural layer is a plate of 0.813 mm
thickness of aluminum. Assume the layers to be in very good thermal contact.

T0 = 1530 K (1260 °C)

TMAX_SIP = T1_MAX = 700 K

TMAX_ALU = T2_MAX = 450 K

T3 = 298.15 K

tALU = 0.813 mm

tRCG = 0.38 mm

q = 183 kW/m2 (95% of which is re-

radiated)
 

Figure 4. Layers in HRSI.

The first layer has mechanical characteristics to resist to the dynamic pressure and impacts. A
coating to maximize the radiative cooling is applied on it. We can assume the first layer at the
same temperature because the high thermal conductivity and the little thikness (0.38 mm) of this
layer. The temperature T0 on the RCG is then 1530 K while the temperature T2 on the aluminum
plate has to be less then 450 K. The heat loss through the thermal protection is expected to be the
5% of the incoming flux 183 kW/m2 (the 95% is reradiated to the environment by the coating)
Determine the thickness of SiO2 and SIP that results in the minimum total thickness of the TPS.
Given thermal conductivities and thermal expansion coefficients in:

k α
Layer
W/(m K) (1E-06/K)

SiO2 1.4 0.4

SIP 0.033

Aluminum 247 23.6

Solution
Step. Thermal resistance representation for the HRSI

In general, the heat flow is given by Q = ΔT/Rth and the thermal resistance for a rectangular slab
is Rth = Δx/(kA), where ΔT is the temperature driving force (thermal potential difference), Δx is
the slab thickness, k is the thermal conductivity, and A is the cross-sectional area of the slab.
The thermal resistances for the two layers are in series as shown in the figure below.

Figure. Thermal resistance representation of the insulation.

Based on the thermal resistance representation for the composite furnace wall, the heat flux q is

Q T0 − T1 T1 − T2 T − T3
q= = = = 2  
A x1 − x0 x 2 − x1 x3 − x 2  
k 01 k12 k 23

The heat flux thorough the insulation is the 5% of 183 kW/m2 . Then q = 9.15 kW/m2

Step. Temperature at insulation - aluminum interface

The temperature T2 at the interface between the SIP and the aluminum layers is given by

q T − T3 q
= 2 ⇒ T2 = (x3 − x2 ) + T3    
k 23 (x3 − x2 ) k 23

The above expression can be used to calculate temperature T2 (as done later).

Step. Thickness of silica insulation and strain isolator pad

The thickness of the silica insulation (x1 - x0) and insulation (x2 - x1) are

T0 − T1 T − T2
x1 − x0 = k 01      and       x 2 − x1 = k12 1    
q q

On adding the above two equations, we get

T0 T T
x 2 − x0 = k 01 − k12 2 + (k12 − k 01 ) 1    
q q q
Since q, T0 and T2 are known in the above expression, the first two terms on the right-hand side
are nearly fixed. The last term is negative as k12 is less than k01 (i.e., thermal conductivity of SIP
is less than that of silica insulation). Since the aim is to minimize (x2 - x0), the temperature T1
must be maximized.

Step. Substitution of numerical values

The temperature at the SIP - aluminum interface is

q
T2 = (x3 − x2 ) + T3 = 9150 (0.000813) + 298.15 = 298.18 K    
k 23 247

Next, the temperature T1 is set to 700 K (i.e., the maximum allowable temperature for the SIP).
Substitution of numerical values gives the thickness of silica insulation as

T0 − T1 ⎛ 1530 − 700 ⎞
x1 − x0 = k 01 = 1.4⎜ ⎟ = 127mm    (5  in)    
q ⎝ 9150 ⎠

and the thickness of the SIP as

T1 − T2 ⎛ 700 − 298.18 ⎞
x 2 − x1 = k12 = 0.033⎜ ⎟ = 1.5mm    (0.059  in)    
q ⎝ 9150 ⎠

The minimum thickness of the SIP to avoid the Aluminum failure is:

T1 − T2 ⎛ 700 − 450 ⎞
x 2 − x1 = k12 = 0.033⎜ ⎟ = 0.9mm    (0.035  in)    
q ⎝ 9150 ⎠