Heat transfer analysis for design of RC sulfur pit structure under high temperature condition

Behaviors of the sulfur pit structure are governed with geometric constraints and thermal loads. The buried concrete structure stores sulfur in high temperature so sulfur pits are generally designed by performing structural analysis, which includes temperature gradient between inner and outer sulfur pit wall as load. The temperature gradient is strongly affected by the sphere of thermal influence in the ground surrounding the sulfur pit. However, there is no guideline to determine the value of the said sphere of thermal influence. This results in the designer using an arbitrary and empirical value for the sphere of thermal influence. For this reason, heat transfer analysis of the sulfur pit surrounded by ground is conducted. Considering the sulfur pit’s wall thickness and thermal properties of insulator as parameters, the temperature variations with time in the sulfur pit wall and ambient ground are investigated numerically. A design formula for determining the thermal sphere is also proposed from the numerical results and would be utilized to calculate the temperature gradient of sulfur pit.