The objective of this project was to perform thermal analysis of pipeline heating configurations, with the intention of creating guidelines for the sizing of heating bands. The analysis consisted of two phases. The initial phase served to calibrate and verify the modeling assumptions used for the thermal analysis via comparison with experimental measurements taken for two post weld heat treated pipes using multiple heating band configurations. The second phase analyzed five pipe diameters. The intent of the second phase was to determine appropriate sizing requirements for heating bands in order to minimize temperature variation around the weld location, for pipe diameters ranging from 6 to 30 inches. The results of these analyses can provide refinement of the requirements found in AWS D10.10 [1] regarding the width of the soak band, heated band and gradient control band as a function of pipe diameter, thickness and heating rate/holding time to help ensure that the through-wall temperature difference does not exceed 15°F within the soak band region. Once these requirements are determined, they can be used to update the technical rules in the appropriate ASME BPVC construction and B31 piping codes.
