Experimental investigation of thermal loading of a horizontal thin plate using infrared camera

Abstract This study reports the results of experimental investigations of the characteristics of thermal loading of a thin plate by discrete radiative heat sources. The carbon–steel thin plate is horizontally located above the heat sources. Temperature distribution of the plate is measured using an infrared camera. The effects of various parameters, such as the Rayleigh number, from 10 7 to 10 11 , the aspect ratio, from 0.05 to 0.2, the distance ratio, from 0.05 to 0.2, the number of heaters, from 1 to 24, the thickness ratio, from 0.003 to 0.005, and the thermal radiative emissivity, from 0.567 to 0.889 on the maximum temperature and the length of uniform temperature region on a thin plate are explored. The results indicate that the most effective parameters on the order of impact on the maximum temperature is Rayleigh number, the number of heat sources, the distance ratio, the aspect ratio, the surface emissivity, and the plate thickness ratio. Finally, the results demonstrated that there is an optimal distance ratio to maximize the region of uniform temperature on the plate.