Overview of St. Croix Biofouling and Corrosion Project

Conference · Thu Oct 20 04:00:00 EDT 1977

OSTI ID:6722688

Meier, D. L.

The degradation of the rate of heat transfer through the inside surface of two simulated OTEC heat exchanger tubes was measured over a 10-week period. The experiment was conducted in Caribbean waters near the island of St. Croix. Flow of seawater was maintained continuously through the two aluminum (alloy 6061-T6) tubes at nominal velocities of 3 ft/sec and 6 ft/sec. The heat transfer coefficient for each tube was measured on a weekly basis with a precision of approximately 0.5%, and concurrent measurements of the temperature and velocity of the seawater flowing inside the tubes were also made. By the end of the 10-week experiment, the fouling of the interior surface of the tube had given rise to a thermal resistance (R/sub f/) of 0.00050 (hr ft/sup 2/ /sup 0/F)/Btu for the 3 ft/sec case and 0.00030 (hr ft/sup 2/ /sup 0/F)/Btu for the 6 ft/sec case. One striking feature of the data is that there is a region over which the thermal resistance due to fouling increases at a constant rate. This constant rate of increase is found to be approximately the same for both velocities of flow.

• Research Organization: Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Dept. of Physics
• OSTI ID: 6722688
• Report Number(s): COO-4041-8; CONF-771001-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140800* -- Solar Energy-- Ocean Energy Systems
ALLOYS
ALUMINIUM ALLOYS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BARGES
BIOLOGICAL FOULING
CARIBBEAN SEA
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONVERSION
CORROSION
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY TRANSFER
FOULING
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION
OCEAN THERMAL POWER PLANTS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POWER PLANTS
SEAS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
SURFACE WATERS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TUBES