Numerical determination of temperature distribution in heating network

Abstract

This paper presents the determination of the heat losses of the pre-insulated pipe and twin pipe in the heating network. The paper compares the heat losses calculated by using the analytical solution (1D model) and numerical model (2D model) based on the Finite Element Method. The developed numerical model considered undisturbed ground temperature at various depths. Therefore, it allowed to study the effect of temperature distribution at various ground depths on heat losses in heating network. Various variants of insulation are considered including standard, plus and plus-plus types for pre-insulated tubes. The remaining heat loss calculation is based merely on temperature levels and thermal resistance factors (in the ground), determined by the pipe dimensions and materials. The differences in calculated heat losses by analytical and numerical model do not exceed 10%.