Hi
I would like calculate the heat transfer from buried heated underground pipeline to the surface.
gas pipeline at 40C buried at 1.5 m below ground. surrounded by clay, silt and sand.
is there a commercially available software out there. thanks
Many - e.g pipeline studio from energy solutions. If its just SS then most commercial process simulation tools such as winsim or HYSYS will do the job too.
If its just one job then the cost of the tool and the training may be prohibitive and it will be cheaper to buy this as a service from a consultan (IMHO).
In WinSim, they have an extensive modeling of heat transfer in pipelines where you pick the type of soil. It can even do air or water with variable velocities of these.
Ideally, you'd have access to data from a similar situation and be able to use it to develop an estimate. You should be careful about generalizations in this situation. heat transfer to the soil is strongly impacted by factors such as soil moisture which may vary significantly over short distances.