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CHAPTER 1 STEADY-STATE HEAT CONDUCTION

1.4 Conduction Shape Factors - Pipe Buried in Soil

Conduction shape factors are convenient parameters for expressing the effect of geometry in two-dimensional
heat transfer problems, usually involving a source and a sink. The conduction shape factor S is defined based
on the relationship:

q ＝ k ⋅ S ⋅ ΔT

where q is heat flow, k the thermal conductivity and T the temperature difference between source and sink.
The factors S have been determined for various situations with analytical techniques.

Example: Consider a long pipe of diameter D, length L and temperature Tp buried horizontally at a depth z
in soil with constant surface temperature Ts.

L ≔ 10 k ≔ 0.4 ―――
⋅

Consider different depths: z ≔ 0.1 , 0.2 ‥ 0.9

D ≔ 0.10 pipe diameter

Tp ≔ 60 Ts ≔ 0

L
S (z) ≔ 2 ⋅ ⋅ ―――――
⎛ z⎞
acosh ⎜2 ⋅ ―⎟
⎝ D⎠

q (z) ≔ k ⋅ S (z) ⋅ (Tp − Ts)

1.4_Conduction_Shape_Factors_-_Pipe_Buried_in_Soil.mcdx
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⎡ 47.71 ⎤ ⎡ 1.145 ⋅ 10 3 ⎤
⎢ 30.45 ⎥ ⎢ 730.802 ⎥
⎢ 25.357 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
608.568
⎢ 22.694 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
544.655
⎢ ⎥
S (z) = ⎢ 20.991 ⎥ q (z) = ⎢ 503.793 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
19.781 ⎢ 474.753 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 18.863 ⎥ ⎢ 452.716 ⎥
⎢ 18.135 ⎥ ⎢ 435.229 ⎥
⎣ 17.537 ⎦ ⎣ 420.896 ⎦

1.19⋅10³

1.12⋅10³

1.05⋅10³

980

910

840

q (z) ( ) 770
700

630

560

490

420

0.1 0.18 0.26 0.34 0.42 0.5 0.58 0.66 0.74 0.82 0.9
z ( )

1.4_Conduction_Shape_Factors_-_Pipe_Buried_in_Soil.mcdx