THE INFLUENCE OF HEAT-TRANSFER ON THE FORMATION OF HYDRATE LAYERS IN PIPES

Experiments are performed in order to study the effect of hydrate form ation on heat transfer in pipes. The hydrate formation in the horizona l flow of the gaseous refrigerant R134a and water is examined in a tra nsparent test section at low pressure. The experiments conducted have shown that the formation of hydrates starts on the pipe wall. The whol e perimeter of the pipe wall is covered by hydrates and a hydrate laye r is achieved. The thickness,of the hydrate layer can be related to th e measured heat transfer resistances and measured pressure losses. The thickness of the hydrate layer can be calculated analytically, if a f irst-order logarithmic function of the radial coordinate is assumed fo r the temperature field within the hydrate