CALCULATIONS OF THERMAL LOSSES IN CYLINDRICAL VESSEL WITH (TORI)SPHERICAL HEADS

Calculations per VDI - Heat Atlas

Total thermal losses consist of thermal losses on shell and thermal losses on heads. Qtotal = Qshell + Qheads
Qshell = (θ1 - θ3) / Rtotal ; Rtotal = 1/L { ( ln(R2/R1)/2πλ2 + ln(R3/R2)/2πλ3 + 1/2πR3a3 ) }
Qheads = (θ1-θ3) / Rtotal ; Rtotal = (1/4πλ2)(1/R1-1/R2) + (1/4πλ3)(1/R2- 1/R3)+ 1/4πR3²a3
Torispherical Heads shall are considered spheres with radius = crown radius. Vessel is considered with 2 heads.
A standard simplified uniform thickness vessel is considered, with uniform insulation thickness.

Geometry Input data:

Vessel Diameter: D= 3300.00 mm (inside)
Vessel Length: L= 3600.00 mm (tan-tan)
Vessel Thickness: s2 = 16.00 mm
Insulation Thickn.: s3 = 65.00 mm
Head Crown Radius: R = 2970.00 mm (inside)

Shell & Heads Temperature Profile

θ1 = 35.00 °C
θs1 = 35.00 °C
θs2 = 35.00 °C (assumed at first)
θs3 = 23.75 °C (assumed at first)
θ3 = -10.00 °C (worst enironment)

Surrounding Air Data (VDI Heat atlas part Db 15)

Air speed: w= 33.00 m/sec
Air conductivity * : λ= 0.02456 W/mK
Prandtl number * : Pr = 0.7171
* at θm = (θs3 + θ3) / 2 = 6.88 °C

Insul. Conductivity: λ3= 0.045 W/mK (ERUP spec's)

Metal Conductivity λ2= 50.00 W/mK

Thermal conductivity of air arround cylindrical surface (VDI Heat Atlas, part Ge1, equations 1,2,3,8)
Characteristic length: l = 0.5 π D / 1000 = 5.18 m
Reynold's number: Re = w l / λ = 6964.97
Turbulent flow Nusselt number: Nul,turb = 0.0037 Re 0.8
Pr / ( 1 + 2.443 Re-0.1 ( Pr2/3 - 1)) = 3.94
Laminar flow Nusselt number: Nul,lam = 0.664 Pr1/3 * √ Re = 49.60
Total Nusselt number: Nul,o = 0.3 + √ Nul,lam² + Nul,turb² = 50.06
Actual Nusselt number: Nul = Nul,o { (θ3+273.16) / (θs3+273.16) } 0.12
= 49.34
Thermal conductivity of air: a3 = Nul * λ / l = 0.23 W/m²K

Thermal conductivity of air on a sperical surface (VDI Heat Atlas, part Ge1, equations 1,2,3,8)
Characteristic length: l = 2 R / 1000 = 5.94 m
Reynold's number: Re = w l / λ = 7981.27
Turbulent flow Nusselt number: Nul,turb = 0.0037 Re0.8 Pr / ( 1 + 2.443 Re-0.1 ( Pr2/3 - 1)) = 4.38
Laminar flow Nusselt number: Nul,lam = 0.664 Pr1/3 * √ Re = 53.10
Total Nusselt number: Nul,o = 0.3 + √ Nul,lam² + Nul,turb² = 53.58
Actual Nusselt number: Nul = Nul,o { (θ3+273.16) / (θs3+273.16) } 0.12 = 52.81
Thermal conductivity of air: a3 = Nul * λ / l = 0.22 W/m²K

For cylindrical shell: For spherical shell:

R1 = 0.5 D / 1000 = 1.6500 m R1 = R / 1000 = 2.9700 m
R2 = R1 + s2/1000 = 1.6660 m R2 = R1 + s2/1000 = 2.9860 m
R3 = R2 + s3/1000 = 1.7310 m R3 = R2 + s3/1000 = 3.0510 m

Total Thermal Resistance for Tank Shell: Rtotal = 0.15 K/W Qshell = 306.40 W
Total Thermal Resistance for Tank Heads: Rtotal = 0.05 K/W Qheads = 869.16 W

Verification for pre-selected temperatures:

Qshell = (θs1 - θs2) / Re1 = (θs2 - θs3) / Re2 = (θs3 - θ3) / Re3
Re1 = 1/L (ln(R2/R1) / 2πλ2) = 8.53E-06 K/W θs2 = θs1 - Qshell * Re1 = 35.00 °C
Re2 = 1/L (ln(R3/R2) / 2πλ3) = 3.76E-02 K/W θs3 = θs2 - Qshell * Re2 = 23.48 °C
Re3 = 1/L ( 1 / 2π R3 a3 ) = 1.09E-01 K/W θ3 = θs3 - Qshell * Re3 = -10.00 °C

Qheads = (θ1 - θs1) / Re1 = (θs1 - θs2) / Re2 = (θs2 - θs3) / Re3
Re1 = 1/4πλ2 ( 1/R1 - 1/R2) 2.87E-06 K/W θs2 = θs1 - Qheads * Re1 = 35.00 °C
Re1 = 1/4πλ3 ( 1/R2 - 1/R3) 1.26E-02 K/W θs3 = θs2 - Qheads * Re2 = 24.03 °C
Re3 = 1/4πR3² a3 = 3.92E-02 K/W θ3 = θs3 - Qheads * Re3 = -10.00 °C

Total Heat Loss of Vessel: Q = Q shell + Q roof = 1175.56 W