Mock-Up Study of the Effect of Wall Distance on the Thermal Rating of Power Cables in Ventilated Tunnels

Power transmission through power cables installed in ventilated tunnels is increasingly used worldwide and offers a complex thermal environment. Established correlations currently in use have been deduced from a nonfully developed turbulent flow and the effect of the proximity to a tunnel wall is not accounted for. This paper details the experimental and numerical investigations conducted on a mock-up of the heat transfer from a single cable in a fully developed turbulent airflow, with emphasis on the effect of the cable spacing from the tunnel wall. Nusselt numbers have been compared for different spacing and Reynolds numbers. The overall heat transfer is found to be meaningfully lower than in previous studies as only a third of the heat transfer is found, possible explanation of these differences are given in this paper. A threshold value is observed for the heat transfer while the cable rating depreciation is more gradual. The radiative heat exchange is found to be up to 30% of the total heat loss. An improved cooling law for the case of a single cable in tunnel taking into account the proximity of the wall has been developed from this study and confronted to the experimental and simulated data.