OTC 11040 A Direct Measurement System to obtain the Thermal Conductivity of Pipeline Insulation Coating Systems under Simulated

Service Conditions
D. Haldane, Heriot-Watt University, F. van der Graaf and A. M. Lankhorst, TNO Institute of Applied Physics

Copyright 1999, Offshore Technology Conference This paper was prepared for presentation at the 1999 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, 36 May 1999. This paper was selected for presentation by the OTC Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference or its officers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented.

Abstract This paper describes a long term programme of research which has resulted in the development of a simulated service test facility incorporating a direct measurement system which can be used to confirm the heat transfer characteristics of subsea factory applied and field joint insulation coating systems produced under normal production conditions. The simulated service test was originally developed by Shell Research at their Thornton Research Centre in the UK in the late 1980s. To date these test facilities and accompanying procedures have been successfully used by industry to study the behaviour of thermal insulation coating systems on lengths of steel pipe internally heated to temperatures up to 140 C and when subjected externally to hydrostatic pressures up to the equivalent of water depths of 1450m under real time conditions. It is already becoming apparent that the specialised form of the heat flux measuring device which has been developed during the course of this research programme can be used in other applications. Introduction Traditionally externally applied coating systems for offshore pipelines, subsea flowlines, steel catenary risers, etc. have been used mainly to protect the steel pipe from attack by the surrounding seawater environment. Normally the majority of the length of such pipelines/flowlines/risers are protected by a coating system applied under factory controlled conditions whereas the field joint areas within the factory applied coating system are protected by a coating system, applied under field conditions, which may comprise of entirely different types of material. Subsea developments have placed a requirement on the

development of coating systems for flowlines which will provide them with protection against corrosion attack, heat loss, instability under hydrodynamic loadings, mechanical damage from third party activities, etc., often in combination. These coating systems are required to operate in situations in which the produced fluid temperatures are increasing in excess of 140C and/or in water depths in excess of 1500m. Solutions to satisfy these often conflicting demands are not readily available so new materials need to be either identified or developed and built into cost effective thermal insulation coating systems. This requirement applies not only to factory applied coating systems but equally to field joint coating systems. The requirement to continually develop coating systems for pipelines/flowlines/risers has emphasised the need to have in place approaches, including test procedures, which ensure acceptable levels of quality control and can also be used to establish whether in fact they will be fit-for-purpose. The significance of the difference between quality control testing where the constituent parts of an insulation coating system are tested under standardised conditions and fitnessfor-purpose tests where either the constituent parts of a coating system or the complete coating system are tested under inservice conditions must be emphasised. The acceptance criteria to be adopted in these test programmes should reflect the composite nature of these coating systems. It is therefore important to be able to predict the likely extent of the damage or disruption to flowline coating systems resulting from the mechanical loadings, etc. experienced when pipelines/flowlines/risers are being installed and also throughout their design life when they are in-service on the seabed. However, not all coating systems are suitable for all fields, and a proper understanding of the requirements and the systems is critical. A comprehensive range of test arrangements and corresponding test procedures have been developed, with support from mainly the international oil and gas industry, at Heriot-Watt University to allow the fitness-for-purpose of coating systems to be studied in detail at full scale. Many of these test procedures now form part of the qualification requirements for coating systems for subsea developments internationally. This paper describes a long term programme of research

D. HALDANE, F. VAN DER GRAAF, A.M. LANKHORST

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which has resulted in improvements in the simulated service test which is normally used to confirm the heat transfer characteristics of factory applied and field joint insulation coating systems produced under normal production conditions. Numerical Model of Simulated Service Test The first simulated service test arrangment was developed by Shell Research at their Thornton Research Centre in the UK in the late 1980s. In 1990 when Shell Research decided to effectively withdraw from this area of research a nominally identical test arrangement was established at Heriot-Watt University with the support of the oil and gas industry. The operation of the test arrangement was mainly dependent on the use of heat flux sensors (HFSs) to measure the flow of heat through the insulation coating system on the test pipe when subjected to simulated service conditions. These heat flux sensors, which were originally designed and manufactured by TNO-TPD in the Netherlands, were supplied in the form of a rigid epoxy resin flat disc approximately 30 mm in diameter and 3.5 mm thick with a centrally positioned 10mm diameter sensitive area. It became apparent that the difficulties experienced in mounting the rigid flat form of such a heat flux sensor on the external curved surface of the insulation coating system on a test pipe were contributing to the errors which were being found in the results from tests conducted on insulation coating materials with a known thermal conductivity. In order to develop an in-depth understanding of the behaviour of such a test arrangement when fully operational numerical simulations of the heat transfer and water flow in the simulated service test arrangement were carried out using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model TNO-WISH3D. The CFD-model enabled the surface temperature and heat flux distributions to be obtained along a length of insulated steel pipe immersed in pressurised water. Particular attention was given to studying the following: 1. The magnitude of the errors in the measured heat flux under test conditions. 2. The influence of the physical presence of the HFS on the resulting heat flux measurements. 3. The influence the HFS may have on the thermally induced water circulation within the test arrangement and the significance of any resulting error in the measured heat flux. Numerical Model. The general purpose finite-volume Patankar1-based CFD-model, TNO-WISH3D, which was used was capable of simulating flow, heat transfer and transport of mass species in enclosures. The simulation can include radiative heat transfer and/or combustion. Flows with steady or transient boundary conditions or sources can also be handled. The code uses a 2D or 3D Cartesian grid or a 2D cylindrical grid for the geometrical description of the test arrangement. The fluid domain may contain obstacles and in these obstacles heat conduction can be taken into account (conjugate heat transfer). Problem definition. In the present simulations the test arrangement was assumed to be axially symmetric. The temperature distribution in the steel pipe, the steel blanking

plate, the insulation coating system, the HFS and the water inside the pressure vessel was determined. Moreover, the water velocity field due to natural convection (flow induced by density differences caused by a temperature gradient) inside the pressure vessel was calculated. The fluid velocities in the pressure vessel were found to be very low. Therefore, the fluid flow was not in the turbulent regime, thus allowing laminar flow calculations. Buoyancy effects were accounted for by prescribing a linear temperature dependent relation for the density of water (see Table 1). For decreasing temperature the density of water increases leading to flow in the direction of the gravitational force and vice versa for increasing temperature. The temperature of the water within the pressure vessel normally remains above the density maximum point (4 o C). Cases analysed. Two cases were considered both included a length of steel pipe complete with an externally applied layer of insulation coating material: 1. No HFS was present on the external surface of the insulation coating system. 2. A HFS was mounted on the external surface of the insulation coating system. The first case was included as a basis of comparison for the results obtained from the second case thus enabling the influence of the presence of the HFS to be established. The results from the first case were also compared with the results obtained using published heat transfer data. Boundary conditions and material properties. One of the boundary conditions used was the temperature of the oil circulating around the internal surface of the steel pipe. This was assumed to be constant at 104 oC (considered uniform on the internal surface of the steel pipe). The temperature of cooling water was also assumed constant at 8 oC (considered uniform on the external surface of the pressure vessel). The temperature of the blind flange of the pressure vessel was found from laboratory based tests and was defined in the model as being 48 oC. The material and fluid properties used in the simulation are given in Table 1. Geometrical description and numerical discretisation. The geometry of the computational domain and the numerical mesh is given in Fig. 1. The mesh was locally refined for enhanced resolution near the HFS, the interfaces and in those positions where large velocity or temperature gradients were expected. The same mesh was used for both cases examined in the numerical simulations. The HFS was positioned on the external surface of the layer of insulation coating material mid way along its length. Typical dimensions of the coated test pipe and the HFS are given in Table 2. Results. The simulated contour plot of the temperature distribution for the case with the surface-mounted HFS is given in Fig. 2 (temperature scale from 0 - 100 oC). Thermal stratification occurs close to the joint between the blind flange of the pressure vessel and the coated test pipe. The contour plot for the absolute velocity distribution, due to natural convection, for the case where a surface-mounted HFS is present is shown in Fig. 3. The absolute velocity (defined as the square root of the sum of the quadratic values

OTC 11040 A DIRECT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM TO OBTAIN THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF PIPELINE INSULATION COATING SYSTEMS UNDER SIMULATED SERVICE CONDITIONS 3

of both velocity components) is scaled from 0 - 5 mm/s. Note the disturbance of the boundary layer due to the presence of the HFS. Fig. 4 presents a detailed view near the HFS showing velocities in the boundary layer and the disturbance in the flow due to the presence of the HFS. The length of the reference vector is 10 mm/s. The size of each vector is proportional to the fluid velocity. The direction of the vector corresponds with the direction of the flow. The velocities are of the order of 10 mm/s or lower. Along the vertical surfaces, natural convection boundary layers occur. As the velocity vectors are plotted on the grid points of the non-linear numerical mesh, clusters of vectors occur in regions where the grid is refined. Measurement errors. The most significant results obtained from the simulations are summarised in Table 3. The undisturbed temperature and heat flux values are those shown for the case where no HFS was present. When a HFS is introduced the changes in both the temperature at the HFS/insulation interface and the heat flux are significant, compared to the base case where no HFS is present. However, when Equation (1) is used to determine the thermal conductivity (k-value) of the insulation coating material, the accuracy of the approach is very high (of the order of 0.1%). Numerical simulation versus analytical approach. The analytical solution for a one-dimensional conduction problem in a composite cylindrical structure is given by Bird et al.2. The (modified) expression for the radial heat flux evaluated on the insulation surface r = r2 (for explanation of variables see Table 2) is given by Equation (1): Q" = (Ts-Tc)/[r2{ ln(r1/r0)/kS + ln(r2/r1)/kINS + 1/r2h }].(1) In this equation (as well as in the simulations) the heat transfer coefficient at the internal surface of the steel pipe was assumed to be very large. This is true as the recorded differences in the temperature of the mineral oil flowing into and out of the test pipe was small (0.3 oC). This equation in fact gives the heat transfer coefficient from the surface of the HFS exposed to the surrounding cooling media circulating at a temperature of 8 oC. The resulting value for this heat transfer coefficient obtained from the numerical simulation was found to be approximately 28 W/m2.K. This results in a value for the heat flux Q" = 198.4 W/m2 which almost exactly agrees with the value found in the numerical simulation (see Table 3). In the subsequent work use has been made of the value of h obtained from the simulations. The value of Q" however is relatively insensitive to the value of h, if h is large. In the present situation h is large compared to the heat resistance of the insulation coating material. Thus, if h was 100% larger than the value obtained from the numerical model, Q" would be only 3.8% higher, leading to an uncertainty in the value of kINS of 3.8%. Conclusions from numerical simulations. The conclusions which resulted from the numerical simulations were as follows:

1. The results obtained from the numerical model were in good agreement with those obtained using the analytical approach and the predicted results were in excellent agreement with the results obtained from the laboratory based investigations. 2. The k-value of the insulation material can be determined with very high degree of accuracy if the heat flux and the temperature of the HFS/insulation interface are measured accurately. 3. The HFS should be as thin as possible. These simulations have been carried out assuming a 3.5mm thick HFS. In later developments the minimum thickness of the heat flux sensor has been reduced to 1 mm. 4. The distance between the external surface of the insulation coating system and the internal wall of the pressure vessel is not critical and has no effect on the surface heat transfer coefficient as the boundary layers are very thin. This is true as long as the rising and descending boundary layers do not interact. Heat Flux Sensors Background to HFSs. In general a HFS consists of a thin sheet of filler material in which a thermopile is embedded. The thermopile is formed by a number of differential thermocouples connected in series. The thermocouples of the embedded thermopile are positioned in such a way that the cold junctions are located on or near one surface of the sheet of filler material and the hot junctions on or near the other. A typical section through a HFS is shown diagrammatically in Fig 5. If a heat flux passes through from one surface of the sheet of filler material to the other then depending on the thermal resistance of the filler material, a small temperature difference (gradient) is generated. This small temperature-difference will generate a relatively high voltage signal from the thermopile The resulting heat flux is calculated using a calibration value which is determined for each HFS by subjecting the HFS to a known heat flux and measuring the resulting output voltage signal. In practice, HFSs are either built into or mounted on the surface of the body through which the heat flux is to be measured. The selection of a HFS for a particular application needs to be considered carefully as errors can be present even although they have been correctly installed. Errors due to presence of HFS. The HFS has a certain thermal resistance which is mainly dependent on the thickness and thermal conductivity of the filler material. The fillermaterial effectively consists of two areas; one comprising only of the filler material (low thermal conductivity) and the other in which the filler material is either partly or totally filled with thermopile material (higher thermal conductivity). In its final form the HFS comprises of a sheet of filler material with an effective thermal conductivity which is usually higher than that of the filler material alone. Changes in the thermal conductivity of the filler material used in the manufacture of a HFS will influence the extent to which the resulting heat flux value deviates from the corresponding undisturbed value3 i.e. no HFS present. Similarly, when a HFS

D. HALDANE, F. VAN DER GRAAF, A.M. LANKHORST

OTC 11040

is mounted on the surface of a body and exposed to a fluid (air, water, etc.) where heat is transferred by natural or forced convection, the resulting heat flux value will also differ from the corresponding undisturbed value3. These effects are commonly referred to as the macro heat flux disturbance and will give rise to measurement errors. To reduce such errors a HFS is commonly manufactured in sheet form but with the thermopile located in only the centre of the sheet (e.g. in the form of a disc). The non-sensitive outer part of the HFS is commonly referred to as the guard. In practice the outer part of the HFS consists only of the filler material which results in a difference between the thermal conductivities of the centrally located sensitive area and the guard. The magnitude of the resulting errors can be reduced by appropriate sizing of the sensitive area and the guard for a given HFS. Errors due to internal construction of HFS. In practice the thermopile is made by winding a constantan wire (50m or 30m in diameter) around a rectangular strip of synthetic material. Half of each winding is plated with a layer of pure copper of uniform thickness, using a special plating process (see Fig. 6 and Fig. 7). The junctions between the bare and the copper plated constantan act as junctions of a thermocouple. Leads are welded to the ends of the thermopile which is then wound into place around the strip of synthetic material. Each half winding of constantan and coppered constantan acts as a cold bridge which results in a hot/cold spot on the respective surfaces of the sheet of filler material. The significance of this disturbance is dependent on the thermal conductivity of the filler material in which the thermopile is embedded. Also, this effect is influenced by the heat transfer coefficient when the HFS is exposed to a fluid on one of its surfaces. This is commonly referred to the micro heat flux disturbance. In practice it means that for different applications different calibration values may have to be applied. The significance of this disturbance is dependent on the design of the HFS (choice of materials and dimensions). For a wide range of HFS applications it is preferable to minimise the influence of the micro heat flux disturbance effect or in other words produce HFSs in which the calibration value is independent of the application. k-value measurement. Fig. 8 shows a length of the crosssection of an insulated length of steel pipe, complete with a HFS, exposed to oil and water on adjacent surfaces. The relation between heat flux, temperatures, dimensions and thermal conductivities is expressed by Equation (2) which is a simplified form of Equation (1). Q" = (Ts-Tc)/[r2{ ln(r1/r0)/kS + ln(r2/r1)/kINS}].(2) A value for the thermal conductivity of the layer of insulation material, KINS, can be calculated for a known value of Ks provided the values for Q", (Ts-Tc), r0, r1 and r2 can be measured. Consequently a direct measurement system requires the measurement of Q" and (Ts-Tc). It was therefore decided to develop a heat flux sensing device which could be used to

measure the values for Q" and Tc directly. Tc was measured using differential thermocouples embedded within the heat flux sensing device immediately adjacent to the appropriate interface. A separate temperature sensor was also developed to measure the value of Ts and was mounted on the internal surface of the steel pipe directly opposite the position where the heat flux sensing device was located. Development of Beltform Heat Flux Sensing Device. Introduction. It was realised early in 1995 after a lengthy period of development and optimisation of HFSs in their original form i.e. a rigid epoxy resin flat disc, were too complex to be universally accepted for everyday use in such tests. Heriot-Watt University in conjunction with TNO-TPD initiated a further programme of research aimed at developing a heat flux sensing device which would form the basis of a direct measurement system. This sensing device was intended to be used mainly for the determination of the thermal conductivity of insulation coating systems on lengths of steel pipe subjected to simulated service conditions. The background and the subsequent use of this sensing device are described in the following sections. Specified requirements. The initial design requirements were specified as follows: 1. To be flexible enough to conform to the external curved surface of insulation coating systems with a range of diameters (100mm - 410mm). It had to be provided with a means by which it could readily be held in position around the curved surface of the insulation coating systems. 2. To include a means by which interface temperatures could be measured. 3. The sensor and cable connections were to be of watertight construction when subjected to operational pressures of 100 bar (water). 4. The accuracy of the heat flux measurement was to be better than 2% but in any case it was accepted that this would be dependent on the operational limits of currently available calibration devices. 5. To be capable of measuring heat fluxes in the range 100 500 W/m2. 6. To be suitable for use with 20mm - 75mm thick layers of insulation coating materials with k-values in the range 0.1 0.5 W/m.K. 7. To be suitable for use in environments in which the surface heat transfer coefficients were in the range 20 - 40 W/m2.K. Manufacturing aspects. A number of developments which had taken place at TNO-TPD were made available to the project: 1. Thermopile ribbons in widths of 2mm - 0.5mm and thicknesses of 0.12mm - 0.05mm were now available. It should be emphasised that the effective thermal conductivity, sensitivity, thickness and dimensions of the sensitive area within the HFS are all influenced within certain limits by the type and length of thermopile ribbon. 2. Improvements in the moulding technique required to embed the thermopile ribbon in materials such as polyurethane had been introduced. This presented the possibility of producing

OTC 11040 A DIRECT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM TO OBTAIN THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF PIPELINE INSULATION COATING SYSTEMS UNDER SIMULATED SERVICE CONDITIONS 5

HFSs with the required flexibility, toughness, water-tightness and hydrostatic pressure-resistance. It therefore had become practical to manufacture HFSs in a flexible thin belt form capable of being used in the above test environments. Numerical modelling. In order to determine the optimum configuration for the beltform heat flux sensor the numerical modelling tool described earlier was again employed. Fig. 9 shows an enlarged part of the cross-section of a HFS mounted on the external surface of a section of insulated steel pipe subjected to hydrostatic pressure on one surface. The HFS was assumed to be flat in the model because of the high ratio between the outer diameter of the test pipe and the thickness of the HFS. It was assumed that heat transfer between the outer surface of the sensor and the surrounding water would result in heat transfer coefficients in the range 10 to 50 W/m2.K. The embedded thermopile was represented within the cross-section of the HFS as a series of parallel strips. In the model, the calibration value was defined as follows: C = Q"/T...(3) By varying the values for d and L the significance of the micro heat flux disturbance can be studied and expressed in terms of h and C. Also the effective thermal conductivity of the sensitive area (the area of filler material in which the thermopile ribbon is embedded) was calculated to study the significance of the macro heat flux disturbance. Thermopile layout. The results obtained from the numerical simulations resulted in the following configuration for the thermopile (see Fig. 10): 1. Thermopile-wire diameter: 0.03mm 2. Height of the strip/width of the thermopile ribbon: 0,5mm (positioned symmetrically between both the surfaces of the HFS) 3. Pitch of the thermopile windings: 0.14mm 4. Thermal conductivity of the filler material : 0.2 W/m.K 5. d= 1mm 6. L= 5mm Characteristics. The resulting characteristics of the beltform HFS (see Fig. 11) were as follows: 1. Overall dimensions: 380mm x 100mm x 1mm. 2. Size of sensitive area: 40mm x 60mm. 3. Typical calibration value: approximately 30 W/m2/mV 4. Internal electrical resistance: 2 - 2.5 kOhm. 5. Resistant to hydrostatic pressure up to 100 bar, possibly up to 200 bar. 6. The beltform HFS was to be held in position around the external curved surface of the insulation coating system by means of a plastic membrane placed over the HFS and held in position with the assistance of two stainless steel springs. The HFS and the plastic membrane are shown in Fig. 12 and Fig. 13. Performance. The predicted performance of the HFS obtained from the numerical simulations is summarised as follows: 1. The effective thermal conductivity of the sensitive area of

the HFS was found to be keff = 0.212 W/m.K. 2. The variation in the value of C was of the order of 1% when h varies from 10 to 50 W/m2.K The narrowest part of the guard was selected to be 30mm to minimise errors resulting from the macro heat flux disturbance effect described earlier. The resulting significance of the macro heat flux disturbance was obtained by studying the variation in the heat flux Q" passing through the HFS. Equation (2) was used to find the theoretical thermal conductivity of the pipe insulation material which was then compared to the actual value. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The influence of the heat transfer coefficient h in the range 10 - 50 W/m2.K was found to be negligible. 2. As an example, assuming an insulation layer thickness (r2r1) of 15mm the discrepancy in the results was of the order of 0.2%. This discrepancy was found to increase for higher insulation layer thicknesses (up to 60mm) to approximately 1%. Calibration method. Each HFS is individually calibrated by subjecting it to a known heat flux electrically generated in a high performance twin-plate test arrangement developed at TNO-TPD. A description of the calibration technique has been published previously3. Simulated Service Test A typical diagrammatic view of such a test facility is shown in Fig. 14. It should be emphasised that this test cannot be used to predict the long-term creep characteristics of insulation coating systems as the test is conducted under real time conditions. Test arrangment and test procedure. In this short-term test, lasting typically 28 days, the flow of heat through the insulation coating system and the radial contraction/expansion of the insulation coating system is monitored under conditions which simulate those to which the insulation coating system would be subjected to when in-service on the seabed. Normally in the test the insulation coating system on the test pipe is subjected to a temperature gradient across its full thickness and a hydrostatic pressure which are identical to those which it will experience when in-service on the seabed. Preparation of coated test pipe. Ideally the test pipe should be prepared from a length of steel pipe coated under normal production conditions and not from a length of steel pipe coated under laboratory conditions. The first stage in the preparation of the length of coated pipe selected for the test is to weld a steel blanking plate to one of its ends and preferably then encapsulated it in a suitable insulation coating material. A transition collar, complete with ring flange, is butt welded onto the other end of the coated test pipe. The transition collar and the ring flange are used to modify the outside diameter of the steel pipe to enable it to be bolted to the underside of the blind flange of the pressure vessel. At this stage the temperature sensor(s) is attached to the internal surface of the steel test pipe.

D. HALDANE, F. VAN DER GRAAF, A.M. LANKHORST

OTC 11040

Mobilisation of pressure vessel. The end of the coated test pipe fitted with the ring flange is then bolted to the internal face of the blind flange of the pressure vessel. At this stage the heat flux sensor device(s) is attached to the external surface of the coated test pipe (see Fig. 15). The pressure vessel blind flange, complete with the instrumented test pipe, is then bolted in position on the open end of the pressure vessel. The annulus between the coated test pipe and the internal surface of the shell of the pressure vessel is filled with simulated sea water after the electronic displacement transducers have been bolted onto the ports on the shell of the pressure vessel. The pressure vessel is then placed in the cooling jacket and the anti-freeze mixture already in the cooling jacket is topped up to the required level. The anti-freeze mixture in the cooling jacket is continuously circulated through chiller units during the test to bring the temperature of the simulated sea water surrounding the coated test pipe in the pressure vessel down to the test temperature. The flexible hoses which are used to continuously circulate hot mineral oil through the bore of the coated test pipe are then connected to the two openings in the blind flange of the pressure vessel. The flexible hoses for the system used to pressurise the simulated sea water surrounding the coated test pipe in the pressure vessel are then connected to the openings in the blind flange of the pressure vessel. The remaining thermocouples and the pressure transducer are then also connected to the blind flange of the pressure vessel. Instrumentation. The following instrumentation is normally used in such a test: Pressure. The pressure inside the pressure vessel is monitored using a pressure transducer mounted in the blanking flange of the pressure vessel. Radial compressive deformation of coating. Electronic displacement transducers are mounted in the walls of the pressure vessel to monitor radial movements of the coating system resulting from the presence of the hydrostatic pressure and the temperature gradient. Temperatures. The temperature of the steel test pipe is monitored using specially designed temperature sensors mounted directly on the internal surface of the steel pipe. The temperature of the mineral oil passing through the bore of the coated test pipe is monitored using thermocouples contained within thermowells mounted in the flow and return pipework. Heat fluxes. The heat transfer characteristics of the insulation coating system on the test pipe are obtained using the beltform heat flux sensing device whose development has been described above. Data acquisition. The readings obtained from all the sensors are recorded by a data acquisition unit which is programmed to permit sets of recordings to be taken at appropriate time intervals throughout the duration of the test. The data files from each test are available in spreadsheet format. Establishment of test conditions. When the mobilisation of the test arrangement has been completed the anti-freeze mixture in the cooling jacket is circulated through the chiller units to bring the temperature of the simulated sea water

surrounding the coated test pipe in the pressure vessel down to the test temperature. When the temperature of the simulated sea water surrounding the coated test pipe in the pressure vessel has reached the test temperature the mineral heating oil is then circulated through openings in the pressure vessel flange into the bore of the coated test pipe. The temperature of the heating oil is gradually brought up to and kept at the test temperature using electrical control circuits which are connected to remotely positioned immersion heaters and to sensors mounted in the heating flow and return pipework. When the required temperature gradient through the coated test pipe has been established and the response of the coated test pipe has stabilised a preliminary set of measurements are used to determine the thermal conductivity of the insulation coating system. The simulated sea water surrounding the test pipe inside the pressure vessel is then gradually pressurised up to the test pressure provided the result from the preliminary set of calculations is acceptable. A control circuit is used to hold the pressure constant at this value throughout the duration of the test. Termination of test. The test conditions are kept constant, within practical limits, for the duration of the test which is typically 28 days. On completion of the test the heating circuits are switched off thus allowing the internal temperature of the coated test pipe to fall to the temperature of the simulated sea water surrounding the test pipe in the pressure vessel. When the response of the test pipe to the removal of the temperature gradient has stabilised the hydrostatic pressure in the pressure vessel is reduced to atmospheric. The performance of the coated test pipe is normally monitored throughout the duration of the test up until it is finally removed from the pressure vessel. Calculation procedure. A typical set of results obtained from an actual simulated service test on a polyurethane based field joint coating system are summarised below. Coated test pipe details: Outside diameter of steel pipe = 27.3.01 mm Wall thickness of steel pipe = 22.2 mm Thickness of insulation layer = 38.88 mm ro = 114.305 mm r1 = 136.505 mm r2 = 175.385 mm Results from the test averaged over 400 hours: Temperature of internal surface of steel pipe, Ts = 89.73 C Temperature under heat flux sensing device, Tc = 12.71 C Heat flux = 339.08 W/m2 Calculations: Heat flow from insulation coating system, Q" = 373.66 W/m The thermal conductivity of polyurethane, kINS using Equation (2) and assuming the thermal conductivity of the steel ks to be 45 W/m.K, was found to be 0.194 W/m.K. Material assessment. It is strongly recommended that consideration is given to conducting a carefully planned programme of standard physical and mechanical tests to be conducted on samples removed from areas of the insulation

OTC 11040 A DIRECT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM TO OBTAIN THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF PIPELINE INSULATION COATING SYSTEMS UNDER SIMULATED SERVICE CONDITIONS 7

coating system on completion of the test in order to confirm that no significant degradation of the materials has taken place and in particular to confirm the density of the insulant present within the coating system. Future developments The design of the heat flux sensing device continues to be optimised to meet the ever increasing demands of the industry. Tests conditions have become more demanding and there have been significant changes in the types of insulation materials being considered as shown below: 1. Internal pipe temperatures up to 140C. 2. Hydrostatic pressures up to the equivalent of a water depth of 1450m. 3. Insulation coating materials containing micro and macro spheres. It should be emphasised the heat flux sensing device described in this paper will not necessarily be suitable for use in tests where its performance has not already been examined. Nomenclature d= thickness of the HFS [mm] h= surface heat transfer coefficient [W/m2.K] Ks= thermal conductivity of steel pipe-material [W/m.K] Keff= thermal conductivity of the sensitive part of the HFS [W/m.K] KINS=thermal conductivity of the layer of insulation material [W/m.K] L= distance between the rows of thermopile-ribbon in the sensitive part of the HFS [mm] Ts= temperature of the internal surface of the steel pipe [C] Tc= temperature of the external surface of the layer of insulation coating material [C] T=temperature difference as seen by the junctions of the thermopile Q"= heat flux [W/m2] Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Bart Paarhuis for carrying out the numerical simulations relating to the Macro and Micro heat flux disturbance during his period of training at TNO-TPD which formed part of his studies in Physics at the University of Twente. References
1. 2. 3.

4.

Patankar, S.V., "Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow" , Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, Washington, (980). Bird, R.B., Stewart, W.E. and Lightfoot, E.N. Transport Phenomena, J. Wiley & Sons, New York (1960). Van der Graaf, F., Heat Flux Sensors, chapter 8 of Sensor, a comprehensive Survey, Volume 4 Thermal Sensors, 1990 VCH. Van der Graaf, F., Building Applications of Heat Flux Transducers, ASTM STP 885, Bales, E., Bomberg, M., and Courville, G.E., (eds); Philidelphia: American Society for Testing and Materials, 1985, pp. 9-24.

Material

Table 1Material and fluid properties (* T in C) Thermal Dynamic Heat conductivity viscosity capacity [W/mK] [kg/ms] [J/kgK]
0.596 45.0 10.0 0.18 1.002 10 -3

Density [kg/m ]
998.23 - 0.15 T* 3

Water (H2O) Steel (S) Heat Flux Sensor (HFS) Insulation (INS)

4185.0 -

Table 2Dimensions of set-up Position symbol radius [mm]

inner radius steel pipe outer radius steel pipe outer radius insulation HFS thickness r0 r1 r2 d 65 84.1 145.9 3.5

Case
Without HFS With surface mounted HFS

Table 3Errors in the measured insulation value THFS Q"HFS kINS T Q" o 2 o [ C] [W/m ] [W/mK] [ C] [%]
15.10 14.28 -0.82 198.0 200.5 +1.3 0.18 0.1797

kINS [%]
-0.1

Fig. 1Geometrical description of the test arrangement and the mesh.

Fig. 2Temperature distribution within the pressure vessel.

Fig. 3Velocity distribution within the pressure vessel.

Fig. 4Velocity vectors close to HFS.

Fig. 5Schematic cross-section through a HFS.

Fig. 6A schematic view of a typical length of thermopile-ribbon.

Fig. 7Microscopic view of thermopile ribbon.

water

Tc

Insulation

steel pipe-wall Ts

r0

r1

r2

oil

Fig. 8Section through wall of insulated steel pipe.

surface exposed to water

0.1mm

{
pipe insulation

0.5mm

Fig. 9Enlarged section through beltform HFS.

Fig. 10Length of thermopile ribbon used in the beltform HFS.

= thermocouple 380 mm

Thickness : 1 mm 100 mm 40mm 60mm

Fig. 11Beltform HFS, showing sensitive area, temperature sensors and overall dimensions (guard).

Fig. 12Final form of beltform HFS.

30 mm

Fig. 13Plastic membrane used to hold the beltform HFS in position around test pipe.

Pressure Relief Valve Pressure Gauge Compressor

Pressure Transducer

Header Tank

Isolating Valve Thermocouples Multi-Element Electrical Heaters

Air Driven Liquid Pump

Hot Circuit Controllers Sight Glass Coated Test Pipe

Chillers

Pressure Vessel

Isolating Valve

Cooling Jacket Isolating Valve Hot Circuit Pumps MEASUREMENTS RECORDED THROUGHOUT DURATION OF A TEST:
Radial contraction/expansion of coating system. Heat flux through coating system. Hydrostatic pressure within pressure vessel. Temperature of internal surface of steel test pipe. Temperature of external surface of coating system.

Fig. 14Typical simulated service test facility.

Fig. 15Beltform HFS positioned on external surface of coated test pipe.