Heat Transfer in a Pipe

[brian21954]

I want to put in two miles of pipe to convey a product from my facility to a plant down the street. How do I calculate the temperature at the end of the uninsultated pipe?

 

[whylie]

Dear brian21954,

You have only stated two miles(10560 feet),the other data required is diameter,material of construction,fluid properties or The fluid ,the initial temperature,the prevaling wind speed in your location(for overground pipe)..

There are graphs,indicating heat loss per square foot of exposed area (BTU/SQ FT),from which you can calculate the heat lost ,which then can be translated into temperature drop for your inside fluid.
If you have a temperature sensitive case,then you should insulate to avoid any problems..

For references,check in Kern (Process Heat Transfer)

Regards,

Whylie

 

[tlutz]

If it is important to control the temperature of the product, you could also install electric heat tracing along the pipe. This can of the self regulating style or mineral insulated cable with temperature control. It would require insulation to be effective, but would allow you to regulate the temperature coming into your other plant.

Tim

 

on a theretical basis.
The problem is a heat transfer in a pipe which is long enough that the flow is completely developed . The condition out side is such that the constant temperature conditions prevails . You can directly apply the basic correlations to calculate the heat transfer coefficientand thereby the heat loss knowing the temperature of the fluid at inlet and the ambient temperature. The process demands an iterative solution to get the fluid temperature at the exit of the pipe.

 

[brian21954]

This is a real situation. The prospective customer is about two miles away and they want to know the delivery conditions of a gas product. I am trying to determine the conditions I don't insulate the pipe.

 

[dcasto]

I use WinSim to model this type of pipelines all the time. From experience, if you have turbulent flow, you'll be right at ground temperature within two miles.