doiSerbia

A model for the evaluation of heat loss from underground cables in non-uniform soil to optimize the system design

Salata F. (Department “DIAEE - Area Fisica Tecnica”, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy)
de Vollaro Lieto A. (Department “DIAEE - Area Fisica Tecnica”, University “Sapienza” of Rome, Italy)
de Vollaro Lieto R. (Department “Ingegneria Meccanica ed Industriale”, University of “Roma TRE”, Italy)

With the proliferation of technologies and underground systems, analysis of thermal fields in soil has become a topic of great interest in the developing technology of buried structures. In this work, we have investigated the steady state temperature field (from linear heat sources - buried cable -) in a different type of soil and excavation geometry. In a laboratory, a physical model was built on scale, which reproduces an "undisturbed" area containing a linear thermal source. This scale model was produced for experimental activity. A measuring chain was made to analyze the thermal field in various types of soils, by varying the electrical current through the line source. The physical model was recreated using a finite volume calculation software. Analysis of the different field system configurations were completed and we have studied a model for the improvement of the design method.

Keywords: dry soil, buried cable, FEM model, electrical current, linear thermal source, design method, excavation geometry