An analytical study of the transfer of liquefied natural

gas in vacuum insulated pipes is given. Simplified

equations describing heat and mass transfer during the
cool down, steady state, and warm up periods are
presented enabling the sizing of a suitable pipeline for a

required LNG flow rate. The analysis depends on

empirical constants which are evaluated only approximately and are then used in a numerical example
regarding the operation of a 10 in. diameter, 100 km
long LNG pipeline.

TRANSFER OF LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS

IN LONG INSULATED PIPES
A. C H E R V I N S K Y

and Y. M A N H E I M E R - T I M N A T

INCREASED ACTIVITY in the field of liquefied

natural gas (LNG) has given rise to feasibility studies on
transmission of natural gas in liquid rather than gaseous
form.
The major advantage of a LNG pipeline is the great
reduction in volume which enables the capacity of the
LNG pipeline to be three times that of the corresponding
gas phase line. 1 This fact together with the much lower
friction of LNG per unit of throughput leads to the
second advantage of LNG transmission; horsepower
requirements for liquid lines are only one tenth of the
corresponding gas phase lines.
Studies of the technical aspects of LNG pipelines have
been carried out and have shown that these lines appear
to be feasible. 2,3 Most studies recommend the use of a 9~
nickel steel pipe covered with special insulating materials.
It is however believed that better insulation and reduction
of heat leakages in long pipes may be achieved by
vacuum insulation.
The advantages of LNG pipelines are offset to some
extent by the added cost of initially liquefying the gas and
maintaining it in the liquid phase. This requires a
considerable expenditure for insulation and for compression and refrigeration stations along the pipeline. If,
however, a vacuum insulated line is designed, the need
for refrigeration stations may be eliminated by allowing
controlled evaporation of LNG along the line.
Studies of the transfer of cryogenic liquids over short
and long distances have been reported? ,5,6 Most of them
deal with the steady state and cool down periods of the
transmission of liquid hydrogen or nitrogen in pipes
without considering the effect of primary evaporation of
the liquid.
The purpose of the present work is to analyse the
The authors are with the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
A.C. is at present with the Department of Aerospace and
Mechanical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New
Jersey. Received 6 November 1968.
189

transfer of LNG in long vacuum insulated pipes, in order

to explore the feasibility of the construction of LNG
pipelines in Israel. The study is divided into the following
parts:
(a) Cool down period, in which liquefied gas is pumped
into the pipeline which is initially at some ambient
temperature (for example, 27 C).
(b) Steady state operating period, in which the line is
operated at the design conditions and LNG is transferred.
(c) Warm up period, which occurs when pumping of
the liquid stops and the stationary liquid in the pipe is
warmed up due to external heat leakages.
The last section of the paper considers numerically a
particular pipeline showing the effect of different parameters.

Analysis
(a) Cool down time and LNG requirements during cool
down period

The initial operating period of any LNG pipeline is the

cool down period in which liquefied gas is being pumped
into the pipeline which is at some ambient temperature.
Heat transfer from the pipe to the flowing liquid takes
place, resulting in the complete evaporation of the
liquid. A decrease of the pipe temperature with time
follows, giving rise to transient heat and mass transfer
in the pipe. When the temperature of the pipe becomes
equal to the saturation temperature of LNG, a steady
state is reached, in which the fluid flowing in the pipe is in
the liquid phase. Important parameters which must be
determined are: the cool down time, meaning the time
elapsing before a steady state is reached, the rate of
liquid flow, and LNG requirements for cooling the system
down to the saturation temperature.
Some theoretical and experimental work regarding the
transient operation of cryogenic liquid lines has been
reported. Burke et al 4 measured temperatures, pressures
CRYOGENICS JUNE 1969

NOMENCLATURE

a, b
c
CpL
D
f

h
I0, Ii
Jo, J~
K
L
p
Q
R
s
T
U
V
w
d
0
n
2
p
a
r
~b

parameters defined in the text

heat capacity at constant pressure
heat capacity of liquid L N G
pipe diameter
friction coefficient
heat transfer coefficient
modified Bessel functions of order zero and
one
Bessel function of zero, first order
heat conductivity
pipe length
pressure
heat leakage rate
pipe radius
pipe cross sectional area
temperature
dimensionless temperature of the pipe
dimensionless temperature of the fluid
average velocity of the fluid in the pipe
dimensionless heat of evaporation
pipe wall thickness
temperature
thermal diffusivity
latent heat of evaporation
dimensionless axial variable
density
specific L N G requirement for cool down
dimensionless time variable
integral function defined in the text

Subscripts

Consider then a long round pipe insulated from the

surroundings into which a liquefied fluid is being introduced at some initial section. Due to the assumed lack
of a two phase region, instantaneous evaporation occurs
so that the fluid flowing downstream of the entrance
section is in gaseous form.
The equations for heat transfer between the gas and the
pipe are :
for the gas
bT:
cfp.r-~- + h ( T f - T , r )

(l)

= 0...

(2)

for the pipe

TtF

c,vpw~

+h(T,-Tr)+Q

where cl and Cw are the heat capacities of the gas and

pipe respectively, h is the heat transfer coefficient, w the
average gas velocity in the pipe, and Q the heat of
evaporation.
Defining dimensionless parameters and coordinates
as follows
Tf-

V-

T,~

U-

I1

Tw-

T~

17

--

--- a x

- C wp wW

cfpyw

r = b(wt-

x)

where Ts is the saturation temperature of ENG we have

the following equations instead of (1) and (2)

critical value

~V

--=U-V

J" value pertinent to the fluid in the pipe

g value at the surface of the ground

i initial value
L value at a distance L from the pipe entrance
l liquid
o value at the pipe entrance section
s saturation value
w pertinent to the pipe

~T:
+ cjo[w--~x = 0...

br

..

V- U+a

(3)

. . . (4)

where c~ = (Q/hTs) = constant. Initial conditions are

w(~, o) = wo

v(o, 0 = 0

...

(5)

Equations (3) and (4) together with the initial conditions

(5) have been solved by Brinkley 7 and the solution is
given in the form of:
and flow rates during cool down of a liquefied nitrogen
transfer line 175 ft long. Their experimental results were
compared to a semi-empirical integral theory and good
agreement was found. Tantum and Farrar s measured the
cool down losses of a vacuum insulated pipe carrying
liquid oxygen. Chi 6 carried out experiments on the cool
down of a short metal test section by liquid hydrogen. In
his analysis Chi replaced the two phase fluid flowing in
his test section by a fictitious fluid having the properties
of a gas. This assumption was based on the experimental
fact that the fluid in contact with the pipe is in gaseous
form. All evaporation effects were thus neglected.
In the present analysis a solution of the unsteady one
dimensional equations of heat transfer including an
evaporation term is given. A Newton type law of cooling
is assumed and the existence of a two phase region in the
pipe is neglected. This last assumption may be well
justified when considering the relative length of such a
region with respect to the total length of the pipe which
may be of the order of 300 km.
CRYOGENICS

JUNE

1969

v ( ~ , r) -

r j , - Ts
T8
-

{(Uo + :~r)(~, r) + ~ ( r , ~) -

- ~(~v)~ll[2(~r)~]}e-~
u ( L r) -

Uo -

T w - T,~,

l [ e ( + 1) -

+ c~r~b(~,r) + c((~r)~/,[2(~.r)l]}e -e-T

where

. . . (6)
Uo]~b(r, 4) +

. . . (7)

qS(~, r) = e~ .[ e ~'lo[2(~'r) ~] d~'

O

. . . (8)

An analogous expression may be written for ~b(r, ~).

Equations (6) and (7) enable us to calculate the
temperature of the gaseous natural gas and of the pipe at
any distance or time during the period of cool down, and
the time which elapses before cool down is achieved.
Knowing the mass of the pipeline, the heat of evaporation
and the cool down time, the gas required for cooling the
system to the saturation temperature can also be
181

calculated. Such a calculation was performed by R. B.

Jacobs. 8
Following reference 8 we write:

t~Qw = dmwcw dTw

and

8QI = dmr

2 + I cldT1
T,

where - f i Q w is the heat transfer from the pipe to the

flowing gas and 8QI the heat absorbed by the gas,
including the latent heat of evaporation. Equating the
above two expressions one obtains
Tw

dmi=

inlet (x = 0) the pressure is equal to the pump discharge

pressure p0 and the temperature to some initial value
To. After a certain distance x = L the liquid will start
to evaporate. Assuming that at this point the temperature
and the pressure are related by the Clausius-Clapeyron
equation, and that the vapour obeys the equation of state
for a perfect gas, the boundary condition at x = L can be
written 9

-dmwcw[2 + fctdTs~]-ldTw

...

(9)

T~

T,

|T,

Taking drnw as the unit mass of the pipe and assuming

average constant heat capacities of the pipe and the gas
we get
=

cw in 1 +

(T~ -- Ts)

(10)

where amin is the minimum liquid requirement for

cooling a unit mass of the pipeline to the saturation
temperature.

2
P - Po = - ~ p f w 2 x
T-To

In the steady state the pipeline is at a temperature which

is equal at most to the saturation temperature of the
liquefied fluid. The designed rate of liquid 'flow must be
attained for a given pressure gradient and a given rate of
heat leakage into the pipe. We consider then the following
equations for heat and mass transfer:

=-

Qx
p ws

. . . (15)

Qx

= -:
m

. . . (16)

Po
2
2 L
'
1
-ff-R = ~)pfw x-ff-R + exp R--~o(l + (c, Toth/QL)) . " " (17)
Pumping and refrigeration stations may be designed
according to equation (17). The number of pumping and
refrigeration stations can be reduced to a minimum by
allowing for controlled flushing of liquid along the pipe.
up

period

When pumping of the liquid stops, the fluid in the pipe

may warm up. When this happens heat is transferred
from the tube to the stationary liquid in the radial
direction according to the amount of heat leakage along
the pipe. The equation describing the distribution of
temperature in the pipe during this operation mode is

~0

d(pw) = 0

{~20
=

d(pwz) + dp + 4 t/dx = 0

(14)

so that the pressure and the temperature vary linearly

along the pipe. In order to estimate the length of the pipe
after which saturation occurs, we can use equation (14)
and obtain by substituting it into (15) and (16)

(c) W a r m

(b) Steady state operation

...

where PR is the pump dewar pressure.

Now integrating the set of equations (11) and inserting
the boundary conditions, one gets:

Integration of (9) gives an expression for the mass of

liquid required to cool a mass of equipment dmw from an
initial temperature T, to the saturation temperature T,
Tc

1
R
PL
TL = ~ l n ~

To

1 ~0~
+

. ..

(18)

where

O=T-Ti
c~dT--- Q dx
pws

. . . (11)

where r/ is the shearing stress and Q the rate of heat

leaking into the pipe.
A supplementary equation for the shearing stress
yields:
t/ - 4

D dp
dx-f

pw 2
-2-

...

(12)

where f is a friction factor whose value is given by 9

f = 0.0014 + 0.125 x (Re) -''32

. . (13)

The temperature in equation (18) is a function of the

axial distance as a result of the distribution of temperature and heat leakages during the steady state period.
Since, however, evaporation will occur at the critical
points where the temperature has its maximum value, we
may consider equation (18) only in the vicinity of those
points. Thus equation (18) becomes independent of x and
is integrated subject to the initial condition O(r, O) = O.
If there is a constant heat flux from the surroundings into
the tube, the solution given for 0 is written in the form xo
0 = --p-b- + -U- h-b-2

n=l

for3000< Re<3x

106

Since the temperature variation of the liquid in the steady

state period is small, it can be assumed that p, c~, and f
are all constants. As for the boundary conditions, at the
182

...

(19)

where an are the positive roots of the equation Jo(~n) = 0.

From equation (19) it can be inferred that the maximum
temperature of the fluid is found near the pipe walls.
CRYOGENICS

J U N E 1969

Knowing the constant values of T~, to, K, and Q, the exact

distribution of the temperature as a function of radial
distance and time can be calculated.

Numerical example and discussion

In order to demonstrate the application of the theory
presented in the analysis we consider a 10 in.-100 km
vacuum insulated pipeline (plotted schematically in
Figure 1) whose designed L N G flow rate is 3 x 106 litres
per day.
The physical parameters of L N G are taken in the
present example to be those of methane, CH4. The data
required for the calculations were taken from the
Handbook of Natural Gas Engineering a~ and are given in
Table 1.
The sizing of an L N G transfer line, discharge pressures
and number of pumping and refrigeration stations are all
determined by the designed flow rate and by the amount
of heat leakage into t h e pipe during the steady state
period. These parameters are calculated with the aid of
equation (17), for a flow rate of 3 x 10~ litres per day and
an assumed heat leakage into the pipe of Q = 0.1 Btu/h in.
The results for different pipe diameters are shown in
Figure 2.
The pump discharge pressure for a 10 in.-100 km
pipeline reaches a value of 15 atm rising sharply with the
increase in pipe length. It may, therefore, be concluded

Outer insutoting

'= LNO carrying

tube

I tube

I ..............

,...It

I ............

Entrance

t~pumping

Pumping

and
refrigeration station

Figure 1. Schematic drawing of the system

32

28

PR=IQt m I
r h = 3 x l 0 ~ titres/dQy

that long pipes require the construction of a number of

pumping stations along the line. This number is plotted
as a function of the pump discharge pressure for different
pipe diameters in Figure 3. The calculation of the number
of pumping stations is based on the curve in Figure 2
describing the pressure needs for a 100 km pipeline.
Since an increase in temperature follows a corresponding pressure fall, refrigeration stations must be built at
the same locations along the line as the pumping stations.
The number of refrigeration stations may be reduced if
suitable technical means for controlled evaporation of
L N G can be designed.
In the cool down period heat is transferred to gaseous
L N G from the carrying pipe walls. We then use the
Colburn relation for the coefficient of heat transfer. ~2

hz
{pcf~ ~
0"023
c~oG \--k--J: - (DG/kt:) 'z

station and d e w a r

TABLE 1
Molecular weight = 16.0
Gas density = 0.55p air (at 1 atm)
B o i l i n g point = - 260 F (at 1 atm)
Calorific value = 1 000 Btu/ft3(vap)
Average heat capacity of vapour for the temperature range
- 2 0 0 F to +200 F C p = 0.50Btu/Ib F
Latent heat of evaporation ). = 220 Btu/Ib
Average viscosity of vapourlL = 0.01 centipoise
Average heat conductivity of vapour K = 0.017 Btu/h ft F
Liquid density = 0.45 g/cm 3
Average heat capacity of liquid Cpz = 0.7 8tuJlb F
Average heat conductivity of liquid K~ = 0.08 Btu/h ft F
V i s c o s i t y of liquid #z = 0.7 centipoise

, . . (20)

Here G = m / s = pw and f designates evaluation of the

properties at the film temperature tl = (t~ + tb)/2, while
c~b is the heat capacity of the gas evaluated at the bulk
temperature. The value of G is determined by the ability
of the pipe to vent the gas. If no extra pumps are used for
venting the gas, the flow in the pipe will be choked and
determined by the temperature along the line. The
minimum rate of flow will be determined by the
saturation temperature. Here the velocity of the gas
flowing in the pipe will be approximately 270 m/s.
Evaluating h~ from equation (20) one obtains
hz ~ 0.122 kcal/s m 2 K and h = hi~& where O is the pipe
wall thickness, equal in the present example to in. The
values of a and b which correlale the dimensionless

D=10 in.--

E
O=5in.--

~ 20
V)

"

/
/ /I

~.
E

(3

~, 70

t..
Q.

D= 20 in.

P~=I arm
m = 3x106 [itres/day
pipe Length=lOSm

~72

15

[111

16

En
L.
.C

D=5in.

;\Q,~

D=10in.

2
10z

103
10'*
10 5
Length of transfer [ine~ ff~

Figure 2, Pump discharge pressure

C R Y O G E N I C S JUNE 1969

10s

/,

1
7

10

11

12

13

Figure 3. Number of pumping stations

183

variables of equations (3) and (4) with the axial distance

and the time are
ht
- -

a -

- 0.20 m -~

=~ s00
2
~:
o ~00

b = 0-9 x 10 -4 m -~

~CI~IW

The third parameter appearing in equations (3) and (4)

is the heat of evaporation represented by the term ~.
Using the data given at the beginning of this section one
finds for ~ the value
Q~

42m5

hzTs x vol.

htTszr(D~

--D

~)L ~

0.002
-

D =12- 5 =

'

~ 300
~,
amin =0.113

E 200
g

L
=

Equations (6) and (7), which describe the variation of the

pipe and gas temperatures with time during the cool
down period, have been calculated for various values of ~
and r using the above value of e and taking Uo = 1.6.
The calculation has been performed with the aid of the
Technion's Elliot 503 computer and the results are
plotted in Figure 4.
Figure 4 shows that at small distances from the pipe
entrance, the temperatures of the gas and of the pipe
decay exponentially with time. For large times associated
with long pipes the variation of the temperature of the gas
flowing in the pipe, and that of the pipe itself, can be
described according to the linear relations

1oo

10~

10~
Length of pipeline, r~

2x105

Figure 5. LNG requirements during cool down

o.2

0"1

TI - Ts
.

T,

Uo +
. o~r

.0

Tw - Tw.

0C

T,

...

xt

(21)

and since for such times r ~ t, it is clear that the temperature of the pipe and of the gas decay linearly with time.
Therefore in very long pipes in which the gas flow is
choked the cooling down time is dependent on the parameter e only, giving thus an inverse relation between the
cool down time and the length of the pipe.
In the 100 km pipeline under consideration, the
dimensionless time required for cooling down the system
to the saturation liquid temperature is found from
Figure 4, or alternatively from equation (21), to be
re = 800, from which one finds

RZ

0.5

~ l ~ 0 -0"005

~d
"l~-

0"02
~.03

o4

02

0,_L.__-j 5 /

Figure 6. Temperature distribution in'warm up period

Te

te - bw - 9"15 h

The specific amount of liquid L N G needed for cooling

down the pipeline is found from equation (10) and
Table 1 to be O'min = 0-113, and the total required
amount of L N G is then 235 tons. This total amount is
shown as function of the pipe size in Figure 5.

;I

p-

1.6
1.2

x=450~

0.8

I I

i
Conclusions

tel

0'4
0
-04
-0.8

100 200 300 400

'ks o"-

'
~8009001(

forx=105r~T

x\

~ ~-1'2
~-

-1" 6

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Figure 4. Temperature decay during cool down

t84

The temperature distribution in the pipe during warm

up is shown in Figure 6. In order to calculate the time
elapsing until evaporation starts we assume that
Ts - Ti = 20 C and Q = 0.5 Btu/h ft 2. For these values
we find KQ/RO = 7.6 and from Figure 6 we obtain
2t/R 2 ~ 7.6 - 0.25 = 7.35. After introducing the values
of tc and R into the above relation one gets for the time
after which evaporation will occur (if no extra cooling is
provided) tl = 4-8 h.

Previous experimental and theoretical studies have shown

that the transfer of liquefied natural gas in long insulated
pipelines is feasible. An analytical study of heat and mass
transfer during the cool down, steady state, and warm up
periods has been presented and discussed.
The analysis enables one to calculate such parameters
as the cool down time of the pipeline, the amount of L N G
required for cooling, the pump discharge pressure, the
number of pumping stations along the line, and the time
CRYOGENICS dUNE 1969

elapsing until evaporation occurs, when pumping of the

liquid stops.
These parameters have been calculated for a
l0 in.-100 km vacuum insulated pipeline.
This work was supported by the Israel Petrolium
Institute.
Since this study was completed, the recent work of
Carbonell et a113 has been brought to our attention.
Their treatment deals with the steady state operating
period; their conclusions on the distance between
refrigeration stations and their dependence on the pipe
diameter are in agreement with our results.
REFERENCES

1. HILBERTANDERSON,J. Oil and Gas Journal, 63, 74 (1965)

2. DUFFY, A. R., and DAINORA, J. Oil and Gas Journal, 65,
(1967)

CRYOGENICS

JUNE

1969

3. DIMENTBERG,M. Oil and Gas Journal, 65, 96 (1967)

4. BURKE,J. C., BYRNESS,W. R., POST, A. H., and RuCCtA, F.
Advances in Cryogenic Engineering 4, Paper F-5 (Plenum, New
York, 1960)
5. TANTUM, O. H., and FARRAR, F. Adwlnces in Crl'q(enic
Engineering 4, paper F-1 (Plenum, New York 1960)
6. CHI, J. W. H. Advances in Ct:vq(enie En(ineering 10, Paper I-5
(Plenum, New York, 1965)
7. BRINKEEY,R. J. App/. Ph)'s 18, 582, (1947)
8. JACOBS,R. B. Advances in Cryq(enic Engineering, 8, Paper J-6
(Plenum, New York, 1963)
9. JACOBS,R. B. Advances in Cryq(enic Engineering 2, Paper G-7
(Plenum, New York, 1960)
10. CARSLAW,H. S., and JAEGER, J. C. Conduction of Heat in
Solids (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1959)
11. Handbook of Natural Gas Engineering (McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1959)
12. MCADAMS, W. H. Heat Transmission (McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1954)
13. CARBONELL,E., GUERIN, J. Y., and SOLENTE, P. Advances in
Cryogenic En(ineerin( 12, Paper F-5 (Plenum, New York,
1967)

1t5