A computer simulation and performance evaluation of the Virginia Tech steam heating system

Abstract

A computer simulation program was developed to simulate the Virginia Tech low pressure steam heating system. Based on the total heat available to the buildings and the buildings' relative transmission heat losses, this program will determine the distribution of the heat produced by the steam plant and determine the conditions of the steam at the buildings and along the pipeline. The above distribution of heat consists of heat lost from the pipeline and heat delivered to the buildings.

This program was used to perform a preliminary performance evaluation of the steam heating system during the 1983-84 heating season, and for the coldest day (12/24/83) and day of maximum steam load (2/29/84) in particular. During this heating season 2.397 x 10¹¹ Btu was delivered by the steam plant to the buildings. Also, about 3% of the total heat delivered by the steam plant was lost through the pipeline.

To enhance the usefulness of this program two actions were recommended. First, the steam pipeline and the buildings should be instrumented to allow for verification of the program results. Second, in order to produce more accurate results the program's data should be based on more accurate measurements of the pipeline characteristics and the building heating loads.