INSULATED PIPING CALCULATIONS CALCULATIONS FOR INSULATED PIPING SYSTEMS Determining heat gain, heat loss, and surface temperature of insulated piping is made easier by using a computer program By M. KHALID SIDDIQUI, Mechanical Engineer, STV/Seelye Stevenson Value & Knecht, Inc., New York, N.Y. etermination of heat gain or loss from an ») ‘uninsulated pipe is con- venient, but it becomes inereasingly difficult for an insu- lated piping system unless a com- puter is used. Therefore, a compu- ter program in BASIC has been developed to perform iterative cal- culations (Fig. 1). Furthermore, it is important to know the insula- tion’s outer surface temperature for a particular service. For exam- ple, for hot pipes, the outer sur- face temperature should be at or below a predetermined value for personnel and equipment protec- tion; for cold temperature service, insulation outer surface tempera ture should be above the dew point temperature of the sur- rounding air to prevent condensa- tion, Calculation procedure Calculate the surface coeffi- cients for an above-ground piping system using the following equa- tions based on ASTM Standard C680: Fray = OL A)? x (/ teyg x 1+ 1.277(wind) where h = convection surface co- efficient, Btuh/ft?/deg F d=cylinder diameter, in For flat surfaces and larger cylinders (d > 24), use d = 24, tagg = average temperature of air film, F, (, +¢,)/2 1, =surface temperature, F #, = ambient air tempera- ture, F wind =air speed, mph C=constant depending on shape and heat flow con- dition; 1.016 for horizon- tal cylinders, 1.235 for longer vertical cylinders faq = €(0.1713)10*[(¢,, + 459.6)" A(t, +459.6)*1M(t, -t,) where i,q =Yadiation surface coeffi- cient, Btuh/ft?/deg F e= surface emittance 1, =air temperature, F t, = surface temperature, F Add the convective and radia- tive coefficients to obtain a total surface heat-transfer coefficient. Calculate the equivalent thermal resistance of this heat-transfer co- efficient from the following: Rourp = W2nrhy) where Ruut = thermal resistance of pipe surface, hr ft F/Btu 4, = total surface heat - transfer coefficient, Btub/ft?/deg F ry = outer radius of insulation, ft Calculate the thermal resis- tance of soil for a buried piping system from the following: For d/r,>1, Inl(d/ 1) +04 /7,)” = 1°) R= nk, For d/r, >4, _In@d/r) ar Calculate the thermal resis- tance of insulation and pipe wall from the following: _ Int, /7) rT In(r, /7) 2nk, thermal resistance of soil, hr ft F/Btu R, = thermal resistance of pipe wall, hr ft F/Btu thermal resistance of insulation, hr ft F/Btu thermal conductivity of soil, Btub/ft?/degF HATING PIPING / AIR CONDITIONING NOVEMBER 1994 69faites toi a2 cat sh © €F en BD ee 70 Te “Re mt onie 9) 3 st a 98) ‘at e308) > 3.3) eT Tew 1 Je PANT wth; = Ue ste pa ire seat ‘ete <9 nbs a0 © twat ssi sance forma, Bet Te ‘crete. 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S ‘57D NOC KT = CORE» KB) * ATE) TDD. CTW > THRDD i Som laeganenyns: a Pt : pm ASG) 00 2 8) macs ty oh = aeetR wy Paleo on a to tm Gime «Ca¥ es cee eho TA: Cav op BY CO5E" ESTO) Nene oo pen SEL TG. ine Fe acm) jenn Goris use ren) cae) eet ain 7 goin sone we 85 et = atc = 18.1 913 fos sar/a.uin 27 1) Suits Orns estos bop nece = 7 8 © 9: G0 0 Meer Kenan F908 8 Teer. ome sw i THOLUF op» 300) nib « 2) en 770k,, = thermal conductivity of pipe, Btuh/N?/degF ky; = mean thermal condue- tivity of insulation, Btuhift?/degF d= burial depth to centerline of pipe, 1, = outer radius of pipe or conduit, ft n= inner radius of pipe, ft A single buried pipe in a con- dluit with an air space (Fig, 2) may be treated by adding an appropri- ate resistance for the air space. For simplicity, assume that 2 heat-transfer coefficient of 8 Buh per sq ft per deg F (based on the outer surface of the insulation) applies in most cases. The resis- tance of air space is given by the following: R, =0.053/ r, Calculate the rate of heat trans- fer by dividing the overall temper- ature difference by the total ther- mal resistance as follows: Ga ty —byep IR where q= heat gain or loss per unit length of system, Btuhi/ft R, = total thermal resistance (the sum of all thermal resistances for pure series heat flow), hr ft F/Btu t= fluid or service tempera- ture, F fey = ambient air temperature (above- ground pipe) or average annual soil tem- perature (buried pipe), F Caleullate the rate of heat trans- fer via conduction through insula- tion by substituting insulation outer Surface temperature in the following equation, and then ‘equate with the rate of heat trans- fer calculated from the equation above: a= (tpt) R, Caleulate insulation efficiency. ‘This is expressed as a percentage and defined as the ratio of the heat saved by the insulation to the heat dissipated by the bare Tie Maximum, ssh tomperaure,F _atS0F at 100F ‘Btu infhr per sq ft per deg F cient, it means the covering is able to save 90 percent of the heat lost by the uninsulated pipe, bringing down the heat loss from 100 percent (bare pipe) to 10 per- cent (insulated pipe). For simplicity, inside film resis- tance and minor resistances, such as those of piping and jacket ma- terials, are neglected if insulation is present. It is assumed that the surface temperature of the bare pipe is equal to the fluid tempera- ture. To calculate heat gain or loss from a buried piping system, use average annual earth tempera- ture, It is assumed that single buried pipe is independent of other pipes or thermal anomalies. Caleu- late the thermal resistance of insu- lation using mean thermal condue- tivity (as insulation thermal conduetivity is a funetion of its temperature) from the following: 1p, = Wim Fong Mlny — tm) = Gate) where k,, =mean thermal conduetiy- ity, Btw/ft? hr F zk, = thermal conductivity of insulation at tempera- ture t,, (average of ser- vice and assumed surface temperatures) = thermal conductivity of insulation at tempera- ture (,,, (average of service and ambient temperatures) fq, =mean temperature, F, resid Insulation conductivities for commonly used insulations are 2 Conduit system with annular air ‘space and single carrier pipe. shown in Table 1 for quick refer- ence. Calculate the dew point of the surrounding air if the service tem- perature is lower than ambient air temperature using the following: tg = (0.08 + 2,.81x107 4,225) x(0.01RH) ~0.08]/ 2.8b<10°7)1/85 lew point temperature, F 4, = ambient air tempera- ture, F Ri = relative humidity of ambient air, percent ASHRAENES standard According to ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-1989, all HVAC system piping should be ther- mally insulated in accordance with Table 2. For insulation that has a conductivity outside the range shown in Table 2 for the applicable fluid operating temp- erature range at the mean rat- ing temperature shown (when rounded to the nearest 0.01 Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F), the min- eas / Piet AiR CoNDiTioNINGm NOvEMEER 199461 it 200 Fa 900 Fat 600 Finsulated piping calculations imum thickness must. be deter- mined using the following equa- tion, and corresponding heat gain or loss and surface temperature should be read from the computer printout (Fig. 3): T = PRI(1+ ¢/PR)E!* — 1) where 1 = minimum insulation thickness for material with conductivity K, in. PR = actual outside radius of pipe, in. ¢ = insulation thickn Table 2), in. K = conductivity of alternate material at the mean rat- ing temperature from ‘Table 2 for the applicable fluid temperature range, Btu infhr ft? F lower value of conduetiv- ity range listed in Table 2 for the applicable fluid temperature range, Btu in/hr ft? F For example, if fluid design op- erating temperature is 375 F, conductivity range is 0.32 to 0.34 Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F, and nominal pipe size is 6 in., then from Table 2 the minimum insu- lation thickness would be 3.5 in. ‘Therefore, from Problem 1 (Fig. 8), heat loss and surface temper: ature for 8.5 in. insulation thick- ness are 72 Btuh per ft and 74 F, respectively. Program description ‘The program presented in Fig. 1 is written in BASIC for IBM-com- patible computers. It enables an engineer to determine surface ‘temperature and heat gain or loss from above-ground and single buried piping systems quickly. For above-ground piping sy: tems, ambient air conditions service temperature, thermal con ductivity of insulation, pipe orienta- tion, surface emittance, and wind velocity are program inputs. If the fluid temperature is lower than the ambient air temperature, the pro- gram asks for the relative humidity of the ambient air to calculate dew point temperature. Standard pipe insulation thicknesses from 0.5 to 6.0 in. are stored in the program. Surface emittance of 0.94 is as- sumed to calculate heat gain or loss from above-ground, bare pipes. A convergence factor, at maximum 2 Btuh per ft, is used to obtain insu- lated pipe surface temperature. To minimize computation time, itera- tive calculations are set to start from 250 F surface temperature. If the service temperature is greater than 500 F, the program will not take into account insulation thick- nesses less than 2 in, For underground piping sys- tems, inner and outer diameter of pipe, burial depth to centerline of pipe, average annual soil temper- ature, insulation thickness, and thermal conductivities (insula- tion, soil, and pipe) are program inputs. To calculate heat gain or loss from single, uninsulated buried pipe, enter assumed sur- face temperature equal to service temperature. For simplicity, the traditional Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F is used for all thermal eon- ductivities in the program. Examples Problem 1—Caleulate heat loss from a 6 in. nominal diameter (6.625 in. outer diameter), high- temperature water line operating in air at 375 F, The surrounding air annually averages 60 F. The average annual wind velocity is 4 mph. The insulation is covered with an aluminum jacket with an emissivity of 0.26. The thickness and thermal resistance of the jacket material are negligible. As- sume the pipe is insulated with 2.5 in. of mineral wool with a ther- mal conductivity of 0.312 Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F at 200 F and 0.36 Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F at 300 F (Fig. 3). Problem 2—Repeat Problem 1 but for pipe buried 4 ft deep to Fluid design _!nsulation conductivity Nominal pipe diameter, in, operating _ Conductivity range, Meanrating © Runouts’ 1and tori 2% 5 8 temp.range,F Btu in/hrit?F temperature,F upto? _less___to2_—to4_and6_andup Heating systems (steam, steam condensate, and hot water) ‘Above 350 0.32 100.34 250 1528 Be B07 35) 35 251 to 350 0.29100.31 200 18d 80 Bb Baas: 201 to 250 027 100.30 150 40 «18 ey 4141 to 200 02510028 125 05 «18 ta AS) AS as 105 %0 140 0.24 100.28 4100 05 10 ADAG ANG Nee Domestic and service hot water systems" 405 and up 0.24 to 0.28 100 4010 85 | Below 40 O23t0027 0.29t00.27 “The reauired minimum ticknes rca oi we var tans Cooling systems (chilled water, brine, paesetinere NT "SFarmnmenicoesses faerie revlon ypes see 9482, "unas oid eia nis7teceatng 1 er ee ac cement is 5 62 NoveNeen 1904 mHeatine Proms Aun ConDrTiontNSPIPING SYSTER LAYOUT ( 7=ABOVEGROUMD, 26UNDERGROWO ) =? 1 Boo pine or ne, ows 8 | SERVICE TRRERATURE, Fas Sets ee pees and oe IF SINGLE BURIED PIPE TS UNINSULATED ates ces tra at 28 “INSULATION, CONDUCTIVITY AT TH1, Beusin /#t°2 hr Fo?) 36 ie TWSULATION, CONDUCTIVITY AT TH2, Btu-in /#0°2 hr F =? .32 eta cursiune martin | “ AMGLENT AIR TEMPERATURE, DEG. F =? 60 NINO SPEED, Woh #7 4 Sine re oe ULATION NEAT GAIN 68 LOSS “HLORMEss © sTU/Ne sare Nis ATION rise TOWERATIRE_ EFFICIENCY “cnches? per Lin.tt. per sq.ft clea.) (percent 0 08 ho E 1s ee 5.0 2 20° re 0 96.1 eae m3 0 TS 96.7 40 Food! Raa Re or 35 Ro oe m0 94 40 Br tre m5 8 “Rem pxcoEAM 3 Printout of calculations for Problem 1. (Leyes, 0-00) 71 | PIPING SYSTEM LAYOUT ¢ J=AoveatoUND, 2-WNDERGROUND > =7°2_ “OUTER DIAMETER OF PIPE, INoHES =? 8.625 | SERVICE TEMPERATURE, DEC.’ F =2. 375 "ENTER ASSUMED SURFACE TEMPERATURE = SERVICE TEMPERATURE “TF SINGLE BURIED PIPE 13 UNINSULATED -ASSMED SURFACE TEAPERATURE, 0EG.F =? 225 INSAATION, COMOUCTIVITY AT TH, Burin /40°2 Wr #236 i NSMATION, CONDUCTIVITY. AT TH2, BRirin. /F0°2 he Fm? 32 | ) AVERAGE AMAL SOIL TRPERATNE, 98. F =7 60 ‘Themiat CououerVETY OF SOIL, Btundryfe"2. hr F 6? 12 _ BURIAL DEPTH TO CENTER CINE OF PIRE, FT =? 6 ANGULATION THTOHNESS, INEMES #7 2.5 ATR SPACE, INCHES =2-1 - ReRUn Procpin C1 = Yes, 0240777 PIPING SYSTEM LAVQLT ( ToABOVEGRGND, 2ANDERGIOND 3 =? 4 (ONTER OIANETER OF PAPE, THGHER 97 8.625, ne ‘SERVICE TEWPERATUNE, DEG. F =7 50 . ENTER ASSINED SURFACE TEMPERATURE = SERVICE TEWPERATURE TF SINGLE suRIEO Pipe 16 UNIMsULATED ; ASQMED SURFACE TOWERATURE, DEG,F <7 70 aad IMSuLATION, COROUCTIVITY ATA, Ath HAZ Ne Fo BB MGULATION, onoucTiviTY AT TH, Btucin /#t°2 he f=? 22 DE QRTEVTATLOM ( TsHORT2ONTAL, 2=VERTICAL 3 =7 7. ‘woient ALR TeWPEIATURE, DEG. F780 ive see, nen = 0 SURPACE EMITTANCE =? <8 “RELATIVE WUMIDLTY OF MOLEKT ATR, PERCENT 2 90 coat INSULATION NEAT GAIN OR LOSS. SURFACE THICKNESS BTU/hr nr. TEMPERATURE. EFFICIENCY Citehee) per Uinett per ea.te (deg. FD (percent. a0 52 ‘DEW POINT TEMPERATURE, DEG. F = 77.0 NOTES SURFACE CADENSATION SWMLL TAKE PLACE 1F SURFACE TEMPERATURE 18 LESS THAW DEV POINT TEWPERATURE oem 21 ‘RUM PRORAN 5 Printout of calculations for Problem 3. ves, | Pirin eveten cavour ¢ y=ascveoncino, ewes 7-2 | ‘ITER DIAMETER OF PIPE, INCHES =7°3.5° : SERVICE TOWERATIRE, DED. f=? 4 vTER ASSNED SURFACE TenpexATURE = SERVICE TemeaTUNE 1 SINGLE SURED pie 15 unTnsuaTED : Ags sutace TewPeTURE, DE6,F +7 Avebhce AUAL SOUL TeWPERATURE, DEC. =7 60, TERIAL CoUETIVITY OF SOIL, BtaciNe%2, br F712 URIAL DEPTH TO CENTER CAVE OF IPE, TT =? 5 THEDAAL CODETIVITY OF Pape, Blucin/f°2 hr Fe7 1.2 | TOMER DIMMETER OF PIPE, aHONES = 3.08 ve EXT GAIA WITHOUT INSULATION, Bear. ft = ‘ERIN PROGEAN 18.9 (1s yes, 9-09.70 4 Printout of calculations for Problem 2. 6 Printout of calculations for Problem 4. pipe centerline in soil with an av- erage annual temperature of 60 F. The pipe is encased in a steel con- duit with a concentric air gap of 1 in. The soil thermal conductivity is assumed to be 12 Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F (Fig. 4) Problem 3—Caleulate heat gain and surface temperature for an 8 in, horizontal pipe at 50 F. As- sume the pipe is insulated with glass fiber pipe insulation and is covered with a jacket with surface emittance of 0.8. The ambient air is still and at 80 F (Fig. 5). Problem 4—Calculate heat gain for an uninsulated, 3 in., Schedule 40 PVC chilled-water supply line carrying 45 F water. Assume the pipe is buried 3 ft deep in soil with a thermal conductivity of 12 Btu in/hr per sq ft per deg F, and no other pipes or thermal anomalies are in close proximity. Aseume the average annual soil tempera- ture is 60 F (Fig. 6). a Heaving Pew Ai CONDITION Bibliography ASHRAE Handbook, Fundamen- tals, 1993, Chapter 22. ASHRAE Handbook, HVA tems and Equipment, 1992, Chapter il ASHRARAES Standard 90.1-1989 The author wishes to thank Bernie Fellenbaum, Vadim, Brodsky, and Jack Anserian of STV /Seelye Steven son Value & Knecht, New York, for their contributions to this article. 6 NOVEMBER 1994