Heat Loss From An Insulated Pipe

Parameters
Pipe Outside Diameter 0.1 m Do Created By: Nauman
Fluid Temperature 84.188 C Tf
Ambient Temperature 18 C Ta
Insulation Thickness 0.01 m
Insulation Thermal Conductivit 0.06 W m-1 K-1 k
Surface Temperature Estimate 40 C TsEst

Heat Transfer Calculations

Outside Diameter 0.12 m Ds
Temp Difference at Surface 22 C T
Surface Heat Transfer Coefficie11.016 W m-2 K-1 hs
Heat Loss 91.368 W m-1 q
Surface Temperature Check 40 C Ts
Temperature Check 0 C

Temperature Check needs to be 0 for balanced heat transfer

Use Goal Seek to change any parameter so that
Temperature Check is 0
These equations are used in the spreadsheet to define the heat transfer process.

q is the heat flowrate through the pipe and insulation (W m-1)

Tsis the temperature at the surface of the insulation (K)
Tais the ambient air temperature (K)
Tfis the fluid temperature inside the pipe (K)
DOis the pipe diameter (m)
DSis the outside diameter of the insulated pipe (i.e. the pipe diameter plus two times the
insulation thickness) (m)
k is the insulation thermal conductivity (W m-1K-1)

T is the temperature difference between the insulation surface and ambient airT s-Ta(K)

hsis the insulation-to-air heat surface heat transfer coefficient (W m 2K-1)

The equation for the surface heat transferh scoefficient is a correlation; any other valid
relationship can besubstituted.

The equations are implicit - the heat transfer coefficient is a function of the surface
temperatureTs, but the surface temperature is a function oftheheat transfer coefficient.

Hence the equations need to be solved iteratively with Goal Seek in Excel.Simply
break the loop by estimating a value ofT s,
use this to calculate all other properties (including the heat transfer rate)
use the heat transfer rate to backcalculateT s
use Goal Seek to make the two values ofT sequal by varying the estimated value ofTs(or any
other parameter

You can easily modify the heat transfer equations to include more complex effects, such
aseffect of fouling on the pipe surface, multiple layers of different insulation, radiative losses,
thick large pipe walls (which act as a heat sink) etc