Modeling for determination of temperatures of electrical cables within thermally insulated walls

Models are developed to predict the temperature rise caused by resistive heating of a current carrying electric cable within an insulated wall cavity, with emphasis on simplified models to minimize computation time. Predictions are compared to measurements performed on an AWG-12 2 G NM cable installed in a laboratory wall space mock-up. Results of the two dimensional model are within 15 percent of the measured temperatures. The heat sink effect of the wood studs within the wall on the temperature rise of the section of cable passing through them is demonstrated both with experiment and calculation.