Heat Transfer and Thermal Insulation
Publisher Summary The purpose of this chapter is to discuss thermal behavior and thermal management of a pipeline system, which includes, heat transfer fundamentals; overall heat transfer coefficient calculation; steady-state analysis of thermal design; transient heat transfer analyses of thermal design; and insulation or heating management. The thermal performance of subsea production systems is controlled by the hydraulic behavior of the fluid in the pipeline; conversely, it also impacts the hydraulic design indirectly through the influence of temperature on fluid properties such as GOR, density, and viscosity. Thermal design, which predicts the temperature profile along the pipeline, is one of the most important parts of pipeline design, because this information is required for pipeline analyses including expansion analysis, upheaval or lateral buckling, corrosion protection, hydrate prediction, and wax deposition analysis. Thermal design includes both steady-state and transient heat transfer analyses. It is necessary to consider both steady-state and transient analyses in order to ensure that the performance of the insulation coatings will be adequate in all operational scenarios. The thermal management strategy for pipelines can be divided into passive control and active heating. Passive control includes pipelines insulated by external insulation layers, pipe-in-pipe (PIP), bundle and burial; and active heating includes electrical heating and hot fluid heating.