Boiling Manhole Heat-Loss Calculations

Abstract

Military facilities that maintain and operate underground heat distribution systems (UHDS) need to make proper, cost-effective decisions concerning maintenance and repair. A poorly maintained manhole can become flooded from rainwater runoff, infiltrating ground water, or other sources. A flooded manhole will experience boiling, producing steam and causing a significant, and avoidable, increase in energy use. This report presents a method to estimate the amount of heat loss from a boiling manhole in a wide variety of situations. A set of correlations is developed to estimate manhole heat loss given a minimum of input parameters. Estimates of the energy cost for several sample calculations of typical manholes are included. Using current Army "Red Book" energy costs, typical flooded manholes can cost the DoD between $50,000 and $125,000 per year if they remain unrepaired.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA350373

Entities

People

  • Charles P. Marsh
  • Terrill R. Laughton

Organizations

  • Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Department Of Defense
  • Energy
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Films
  • Groundwater
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Loss
  • Heat Of Vaporization
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heat Transfer Coefficients
  • High Temperature
  • Latent Heat
  • Materials Science
  • Military Facilities
  • Specific Heat
  • Thermal Conductivity

Readers

  • Combustion and Flow Dynamics.
  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Facility/Structural Engineering.