Poster PO-34

AN OPTIMAL INVESTIGATION OF HEAT TRANSFER IN A CRYOGENIC TANK UNE INVESTIGATION OPTIMALE DE TRANSFERT DE CHALEUR DANS UN RESERVOIR CRYOGENIQUE
M. Boumaza,* O. Houache,** D. Boukeffa,* and I. M. Mujtaba*** *Laboratoire Genie Climatique Faculty of Engineering Universite Mentouti-Constantine, Algeria boumaza_m@hotmail.com ** Dept of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering College of Engineering Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman omarh@ squ.edu.om *** Schools of Design, Technology, and Engineering University of Bradford, Bradford, U.K. i.m.mujtaba@bradford.ac.uk

ABSTRACT Sources of natural gas are scattered relatively evenly around the globe, with the results that a trade has developed in transferring the gas to areas of large demand. Thus there are major pipelines around the world. However much gas is liquefied for both transport and storage to take advantage of the large decrease in specific volume, which is achieved without the necessity for pressurization.). The estimation of heat transfer in cryogenics tanks under both laminar and turbulent regimes is an important subject, as it enables to predict the evaporation of the stored cryogenic fluids, which involves simultaneously heat and mass transfer operations. Few studies have looked in detail at this problem using, for example, the approximate method. In this paper, experimental results obtained for liquid nitrogen cryostats, concerning heat transfer through conductive, convective and radiation modes under natural and turbulent regimes between the vapor and the necks, as well as velocity, stream and thermal profiles along the cryostat necks are presented. These results, which may be important in this field, are compared firstly with a numerical simulation, which has been developed and solved through the Fluent industrial code, and secondly with a theoretical model which uses basic principles of heat transfer. The study enables to determine the main parameters affecting the heat losses in this tank and validate the industrial package code, Fluent, for the estimation of these parameters, and therefore can be considered as an important contribution to the improvement of the design of cryogenic tanks. RESUME Les resources de Gaz naturel peuvent etre consideres comme localises uniquement dans certaines regions du globe terreste, provoquant ainsi un besoin de transport de ce

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gaz vers des regions consommatrices mais dpouvues de cette source dnergie. Par consquent cette demande de transport a necessit la construction de gazoducs travers plusieurs rgions du monde pour le transport du gaz. Cependant une grande partie du gaz est transport et stock ltat liquide, qui est considre comme une mthode tres conomique de transport, en considrant lavantage considrable de la grande reduction du volume specifique du gaz liqufi sans faire recours la pression. Le gaz naturel liqufi est aussi stock durant les priodes de basse demandes pour etre eventuellement exploit durant les priodes de grandes demandes. Ainsi les reservoirs cryogniques sont devenus tres importants et diversifis, car en plus du stockage du gaz natrurel liquefi, ces reservoires trouvent leur utilisation dans dautres domaines aussi bien terreste, que spatiale et mers. Generalement les constructeurs des reservoirs cryogniques considrent uniquement laspect conomique durant la ralisation de ces resevoirs sans tudier en detail laspect dynamique et energtique du fluide cryognique stock, malgr les travaux de nombreux specialistes et chercheurs qui ont propos de nombreux techniques de reduction de lvaporation du fluide stocke. Ceci ncessite le dveloppement continue et permanent des mthodes rduisant les apports thermiques de chaleur ambiant par conduction et rayonnement qui gnrent lvaporation du fluide contenu dans le rservoir. Cette article prsent les rsultats complementaires dautres travaux dj publies, dune tude exprimentale et thorique concenant la modlisation thermique vapeurparoi et sa rsolution numrique laide du logiciel industriel fluent. Les rsultats obtenus concernent les distributions des tempratures le long des cols du reservoir et du gaz, ainsi que les profiles thermiques, et de courants le long de ces cols, completent des rsultats dj publies concernant les profiles de viteses et de pressions. Ltude a permis dobtenir les conclusions suivantes Le dbit volumtrique influe considrablement sur la distribution de la temprature, et par consquent les apports thermiques sont inversement proportionnelles au dbit du gaz. Les rsultats exprimentaux et numriques sont en parfaite accord, ce qui suggre la validation du modle numrique obtenu partir du logiciel Fluent. Le modle thorique ne permet pas de dcrire dune facon prcise le phnomne de transferts de chaleur dans ce type de rservoir. Le profile de courant indique que la composante axiale de la vitesse est beaucoup plus importante que la composante radiale. En augmentant le taux dvaporation, le nombre de Reynolds croit et va intensifier la convection de chaleur axiale. Ce phnomne influe sur la distribution de la temprature dune manire quantitative.

1. INTRODUCTION Apart from storage at liquefaction plants and trading terminals, natural gas is stored as liquid for peak shaving operations, that is to provide an additional source of gas during peak demands when the normal supply system is inadequate (usually in winter). Purification (upgrading) of natural gas is achieved by cryogenic methods. Many natural gas sources contain significant quantities of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, which reduce the calorific value and render the gas incompatible with other supplies to the pipeline

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distribution network. Upgrading plants are based on successive liquefaction and separation of the various components of natural gas and are frequently installed at the well head. These cryogenics fluids require specific storage equipment and conditions. Thus storage tanks for liquefied natural gas may be as big as 100m in diameter and 30m in height, containing tens of thousands of tons of liquid. In the past they were usually constructed of either aluminum or 9% nickel steel, now pre stressed concrete is being increasingly used. During the 1960s, excavating a hole in the ground and installing a thin steel liner formed a number of tanks, but this design has proved to be unsatisfactory due to large evaporation rates and to an ever-increasing area of frozen ground. This suggests continuous need for improving the design of these tanks. Therefore, Cryogenic storage systems are finding uses in several applications, for example a 25 liters tank of liquid nitrogen lasted only 24 hours before being evaporated in 1950, while in 1990, this period became nearly one year, storage of large volume of natural gas can be achieved in its liquefied state as its volume is approximately 1/600 of its gaseous volume at standard conditions, while storage of transplant organs requires specials conditions (low temperatures), space rockets special tanks for storage of cryogenic liquids used as fuels, suggesting continuous research and development of primary methods of reducing heat leaks into existing cryogenic storage vessels. These storage tanks represent a medium, where several heat transfer are observed, due to the high temperature gradient between the temperature of the stored fluid and the ambient temperature. These heat transfer are due to conduction, convection and radiation. While the first two modes can be reduced through an optimal insulation and better materials, radiation cannot be totally eliminated, and therefore will be a major source of the loss of the stored cryogenic fluid. Usually manufacturers of cryogenics tanks consider mainly the economical optimization of these equipment, without looking at the energy and dynamic aspects of the cryogenic fluid, and few manufacturers have considered in detail this problem, despite the fact, that several published results have proposed techniques to reduce the evaporation of the stored cryogenic fluids. However the rapid evolution of the cryogenics applications have lead several researchers to investigate the transport phenomena observed in these tanks. These storage tanks represent a medium, where several heat transfer are observed, due to the high temperature gradient between the temperature of the stored fluid and the ambient temperature. These heat transfer are due to conduction, convection and radiation. While the first two modes can be reduced through an optimal insulation and better materials, radiation cannot be totally eliminated, and therefore will be a major source of the evaporation and therefore the loss of the stored cryogenic fluid. One way to reduce these heat leaks is to more efficiently utilize power contained in the evolving cold vapor, and hence diminish boil off rates. Each vapor flow possesses its own characteristics, that leads to the existence of groups of cryostat families, such as super insulated or cooled radiation shields and liquid cooled used in the storage of liquid Helium and liquid Hydrogen, as well as the conservation of human organs. In each case vapor flow and heat transfer between gas and storage tank walls remain the main unknown parameters, which can be sources of important losses of the stored fluids.

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Few studies have looked in detail at this problem using, for example, the approximate method as reported by Caplin and Cayless (1986), Casse and Woestenburg (1986), Hanzelka (1993), Mende et al. (1989), Pon et al (1998) and Augustynowicz et al (1999). In this paper, experimental results obtained for liquid nitrogen cryostats, concerning heat transfer through conductive, convective and radiation modes between the vapor and the necks, as well as velocity, stream and temperatures profiles along the cryostat necks, are presented. These results, which may be considered original and important in this field, consist mainly of the temperature distributions along the axis are compared firstly with a numerical simulation, which has been developed and solved through the Fluent industrial code, and secondly with a theoretical model which uses basic principles of heat transfer. The cryostat studied is a double neck cryostat, where the nitrogen vapor flows between these necks. The mesh generator PreBfc, associated with Fluent, is used to model the cryostat geometry which is a 2D axially symmetric geometry. A 201 73 grid is constructed, corresponding to 200 volumes along the height of the cryostat (its axis z) and 72 volumes along its radius. A refined grid at the inside and outside of the necks walls enables one to capture strong temperature and velocity gradients at the interface wall-fluid. 2. EXPERIMENTAL BENCH DESCRIPTION The experimental cryostat used in this study, and which has already been described by Boukeffa et al (12) is illustrated in figure 1. (See page 10.) This cryostat is a cylindrical tank of stainless steel material with 150 mm diameter, consisting of the following parts: an isothermal reservoir in the bottom section with a 2.5 liters capacity and made of copper (thickness 5 mm and height 150 mm) containing nitrogen bath, a stainless steel neck (the outside neck) with a 1 mm thickness and a 270 mm thermal height (L), a second stainless steel neck (the inside neck) with a 120 mm diameter and a 0.5 mm thickness, a circular heating device placed at the top of the wall which enables to maintain a stable temperature around 300 K. The cryostat super insulation is enclosed by a static vacuum of 10-5 mbar to ensure thermal insulation. Evolving gas (nitrogen vapor) leaves the cryostat through special valves. The temperature measuring devices based on the use of platinum thermometers are placed in several sections of the cold area of the rig. The vacuum pressure is measured by a pressure gauge, while a normal manometer meters the pressure inside the cryostat. In order to avoid accidental pressure excess inside the tank, as well as in the vacuum area, relief valves are installed. The gas evaporation flow rate can be natural evaporation due to heat losses for a zero heat flux or increased evaporation obtained for different heat fluxes through a resistance placed inside the liquid nitrogen bath. This flow rate is metered by a flow meter. Temperatures at inside and outside of the necks and for the evolving gas are obtained in four sections; and the thermometers placed at the cryostat necks and inside the gas flow are linked to a data collecting system. The experimental data recorded correspond to a steady state regime, i.e., only after thermal equilibrium of the cryostat, are they obtained. The thermal time constant of the device is of the order of one hour for the case of super insulation.

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The vacuum between the necks of the cryostat is measure by two types of the pressure gauges, a Pirani Jauge to measure the primary vacuum, and the Penning Jauge to measure the secondary vacuum. The flow rate is measured by a special flow meter , which is based on a volume flow meter and can give a high precision of the flow. The test has used a super insulation composed of 40 layers of Mylar. In the beginning, a vacuum (10-5mabr) is obtained in order to avoid the effect of the molecular conduction. After the filling of the liquid nitrogen, a cryo-pump is achieved in order to improve the vacuum effect. The measures of the temperatures and the flow rates are obtained in a steady state regime, which can be obtained after 90minutes for high heating capacity and 240 minutes (4 hours) for low flow rates. 3. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS In this analysis, the transport phenomena equations were obtained through the NavierStokes equations (dynamic and thermal), which describe the mass and the energy balances 3.1 Fluent Code description The industrial package program, Fluent, proposed by Fluent Incorporated, is used in this study. This code enables the simulation and calculation of fluid flows for dynamic and thermal regimes and for bi and tri dimensional geometries. It can also consider complex geometries with the use of the PreBfc mesh generators. The finite volumes method is used to discredited the Navier-Stokes equations. Mass balance and momentum equations are coupled through the Simple (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations) algorithm. This method is based on predictor-corrector steps. In solving the momentum balance equation, the non-linear term requires an interpolation for the velocity at the volume faces. The Patankar criteria (1980) ensure a stable solution for a discrete equation by an iterative method, for discrete coefficients for the velocities of similar positive signs. As the Simple algorithm doesnt calculate the pressure in the first iteration, it is required to under-estimate the velocity and pressure predictions. The consequence is to ensure a rapid convergence while the initial fluctuations are reduced. The multi-grids method is chosen to solve the discretized equations by an iterative technique. Therefore, once the Navier-Stokes equations are coupled, the convergence criterion is applied to all dynamic equations. The convergence criteria are based on residual evolutions. The Fluent code enables one to simulate heat transfer problems between fluid and tube walls solving transport equations for both the static enthalpy h and the radiation intensity i., it can also solve the following enthalpy equation;

H = C p T

(1)

The heat transfer to the neck is obtained through the following equation, for specific temperatures;
q '' = hw (Tw T f )

(2)

q = heat flux through convection from the wall to the fluid hw= heat transfer coefficient by convection.

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3.2 Cryostat modeling The cryostat studied is a double neck cryostat, and the nitrogen vapor flows between these necks. As the evaporation in the liquid bath is not easy to determine from the code, the evaporation is represented by an initial velocity in the double neck, which corresponds to the flow rate of the nitrogen vapor. In this study, the flow is laminar. The boundary conditions are indicated as follows; Inlet: The nitrogen liquid evaporates at the inlet inside the double neck. The nitrogen vapor temperature is assumed to be similar to the nitrogen evaporation temperature under atmospheric pressure:T=77.4 K. The velocity, which is supposed to follow the vertical z-axis is assumed to depend on experimental flow rate. The emissivity corresponds then to 10-5, for nitrogen vapor at 77.4 K. Nitrogen bath (bottom): the temperature is equal to 77.4 K, while the emissivity of the copper at 77.4 K is considered to be equal to 0.06. Outlet: The exit boundary condition is determined by the code. However an emissivity of 0.2 corresponding to the temperature of the cylinder cover (stainless steel) at 300 K, is imposed. Axis (z): symmetrical, corresponding to the cylinder axis z. Outside wall of the cryostat: The experimental rig enables to justify that the cryostat has adiabatic outside wall (more precisely at the outside boundary of the external neck), corresponding to a zero heat flux and a 0.2 emissivity (stainless steel at 300 K).

4. RESULTS The stream, velocity and thermal profiles between the necks were measured for a gas mass flow rate equal to 43 10-6 kg.s- 1 and 92 10-6 m.s-1., while the temperatures distribution along the necks of the cryostat and of the gas were obtained for the same two gas mass flow rates. The solution convergence is obtained after few iterative steps. In several points of the cryostat, historic evolutions of pressures and thermal distribution are recorded in order to verify the steady state of the solution. Therefore, the solution evolves rapidly to a steady state. The numerical parameters are then correctly chosen. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the stream profiles of the gas between the necks, in the annular section. It can be seen that almost all these profiles are parallel to the x axis in this section of the cryostat, except in the exit section where a small divergence is observed. This indicates that the axial velocity is more important that the radial velocity which suggest that the nature of the flow is under an atmospheric pressure and laminar and bi-dimensional. The numerical velocity profiles of the gas stream for both flow rates, between the necks, are shown in figures 3 and 4. These results enable to show the existence of a thin boundary layer at the beginning, which, becomes fully developed along the wall of the necks, due to the flow of the gas as well as the thermal diffusion. For higher gas flow

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rate, (figure 4), the mean velocity becomes bigger as well as the Reynolds Number, which in turn will increase the axial convection heat transfer. The thermal profiles of the gas stream for both flow rates, between the necks are shown in figures 5 and 6, while figures 7 and 8 show the temperatures profiles along the cryostat necks. These results enable to show the existence of an axial heating of the gas. It can also be seen that, due to the large temperatures differences which exist at the inlet of the necks, an important cooling effect is observed, which becomes more important for the outside neck, having a bigger surface. For a higher gas flow rate (figure 6), the mean velocity becomes bigger. The irregular isotherms lines shown in figure 6 indicate this. Therefore the gas flow rate will only affect quantitatively the thermal profile, while the shape (quality) remains similar to the low flow rate. 5. CONCLUSIONS Although cryogenics is a field of relative antiquity, there has been an unusually long time between the discovery of some phenomena and their applications exploitations. This paper has presented an experimental study, which is performed for a nitrogen cryostat. Thus, the results which complete previous published results, Boukeffa et al(12), and Khemis et al(13), may be considered original and important in this field , are certainly an interesting contribution in understanding the different transport phenomena observed in a cryogenic tank. This study enables to better understand the heat transfer phenomena observed in a cryogenic tank, where there exists the presence of two different phases. This study shows excellent agreement between the experimental and numerical results, as far as the temperatures profiles are concerned. In contrast, the theoretical model with an assumed perfect heat transfer between gas and solid doesnt describe precisely the heat transfer phenomena in the cryogenic tank. These results enable to show the existence of an axial heating of the gas. It can also be seen that, due to the large temperatures differences which exist at the inlet of the necks, an important cooling effect is observed, which becomes more important for the outside neck, having a bigger surface. For a higher gas flow rate, the mean velocity becomes bigger as well as the Reynolds Number, which in turn will increase the axial convection heat transfer. Therefore the gas flow rate will only affect quantitatively the thermal profile, while the shape (quality) remains similar to the low flow rate. That the radial variation of the pressure is negligible for any flow rate, while it is observed a drop in the axial pressure which, is proportional to the gas flow rate. .

Work is in progress to use the numerical approach in order to optimize the heat losses of a given cryostat. It is also expected to consider cryostat with liquid natural gas (LNG), as this fluid is very important and has some dangerous physical properties. It is also recommended to consider turbulent flow, as this study considered only laminar flow, and study the effect of the temperatures on the emissive property, which undoubtedly will give more accurate results.

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6. REFERENCES 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Wexler. A, 1951, Evaporation rate of liquid helium, J. of applied physics, Vol. 22, 12, pp1463-1470 Buhler. S, 1984, Thermal conduction through a vented support, J.Physics, Vol. 3, pp663-669. Caplin A. D. and Cayless A.T., 1986, Simple Casse J.L., Woestenburg E.E.M.,1986, Thermal model for a hybrid cryostat, Cryogenics, Vol. 26, p. 165-170. Hanzelka P., 1993, Numerical modeling in cryostat design: methods and experimental verification, Cryogenics, vol. 33, p. 454-458. G. Pon, A Camon, E.Martinez et al: 1998 Experimental analysis of thermalisation and emissivity of radiation screens for cryostat design, Cryogenics, GB, 10, Vol. 38; N10; 953-958. S. D Augustynowicz, J.E Fesmire, J.P Wikstrom : 1999, Cryogenic insulation systems, 20th International Cong. of Refrigeration, IIR, Sydney, Sept 1999. Khemis O., Duluc M.-C., Francois M.-X.,1994, Mesures des transferts thermiques coupls dans un rservoir cryognique, 2e Congrs S. F. T., Paris, France, p. 125-130. Mende F. F., Gorbunov V.M., Bondarenko N.N., Logvinov V.N and Zhuravel T.I., 1989, Broad-neck liquid helium cryostat with a long lifetime, Cryogenics, Vol. 29, p. 998-1001. Patankar S. V., 1980, Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow, McGraw-Hill, N.Y, USA, 197 p. Fluent Incorporated, 1997, Users guide and tutorial guide. D. Boukeffa, M. Boumaza, M. X. Francois, S. Pellerin, 2001, Experimntal and numerical analysis of heat losses in nitrogen cryostat, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 21, pp967-975. O. Khemis, M. Boumaza, M. Ait Ali, M. X. Francois, 2003, Experimental analysis of heat transfers in a cryogenic tank without lateral insulation, Applied Thermal engineering, Vol. 23, pp2107-2117.

7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13.

7. NOMENCLATURE

r:radial direction (m) :=density (kg.m-3) z:axial direction (m) = dynamic viscosity (kg.m-1.s-1) T:temperature (K) k conductivity (W.m-1.K-1) & : mass flow rate (kg.s-1) m cp:specific heat (J.kg-1.K-1) A: walls section (m2) h: specific enthalpy (KJ/Kg) W : Power (W) u : velocity (m/sec) P : Pressure (N/m2) Lv=latent heat of evaporation (KJ/kg)

Indices w= wall f = fluid

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Figure 1. Stream profiles for a gas flow ratet m =43 mg/s

Figure 2. Stream profiles for a gas flow rate m = 92 mg/s

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Figure 3. Velocity profile for a gas flow ratet m =43 mg/s

Figure 4. Velocity profile for a gas flow rate m =92 mg/s

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Figure 5. Thermal profile for a gas flow rate of m =43 mg/s

Figure 6. Thermal profile for a gas flow rate of 92mg/s

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Figure 7. Temperature profiles inside the neck (Fluent) flow rate of 43 mg/s

Figure 8. Temperature profiles inside the neck (Fluent) for a flow rate of 92 mg/s

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