Pressure relief with rupture discs
A rupture disc is a non-closing safety device that is fail-safe with predictable
operation and reliability characteristics
Orhan Karagöz
REMBE
M
any thousands of tech-
nical supply items are
needed to keep an oil
and gas production operation
running. This includes rup-
ture discs. This article provides
insight into the topic of pressure
relief using rupture discs and
their combination with safety
valves as well as a focus on pres-
sure protection for transporta-
tion vessels.
Pressure relief is a key issue
for any pressure or vacuum
process within the oil and gas
industry. Inadequate pressure
relief, no matter whether it is
protection against over-pressure
or vacuum, will lead to exten-
sive damage to the system itself
and the surrounding area. The
results are long downtimes, sig-
nificant monetary losses and,
in the worst case, employees
can be injured or even killed.
Rupture discs, whether as a
stand-alone solution or in com-
bination with safety valves, are
an essential part of pressure
relief systems in the oil, gas and
petrochemical industries.
The range of applications
is diverse: upstream, they are
used for the pressure activa-
tion of downhole tools in the
well bore, for the pressure relief
in drill pipes, subsea accumu-
lators (SAM), in pigging sys-
tems and flowline installations
as well as in many other appli-
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cations. Downstream, the scope
of utilisation includes floating
production storage and offload-
ing (FPSO) units and topsides,
as well as for protection of stor-
age and transport tanks. It also
encompasses heat exchangers,
separators, flares and sulphur
recovery units. A rupture disc is
more than just a piece of metal.
During the time of the rupture
disc’s invention, simple metal
discs or films that protect non-
critical processes were used.
Now they are sophisticated
engineered components which
can be found in applications
with very high requirements
controlling pressure relief. These
include, for example, small
dimensions or special geom-
etries, especially high or low
pressures, as well as temper-
atures far above or below the
zero point. These applications
require a considerable degree
of expertise and experience to
manufacture the rupture disc to
suit the application. Therefore,
the range of available rupture
discs is currently extensive and
continually expanding in design.
Flat rupture discs are com-
monly used for processes with
relatively low requirements and
are installed directly between
flanges. In addition to these ver-
sions, there are dome-shaped
rupture discs, which are classi-
fied into forward-acting (con-
ventional) and pressure-loaded
(reverse-acting) rupture discs.
The curvature of the forward-
acting rupture discs faces away
from the process, whereas the
curvature of the reverse-acting
rupture discs faces the process
(see Figure 1). Depending on
the manufacturer, reverse-act-
ing rupture discs allow higher
working pressure conditions,
tighter tolerances and thus a bet-
ter utilisation of the overall pro-
tection system.
Some manufacturers also offer
so-called bidirectional rupture
discs combining the two prin-
ciples described above. In one
direction, the rupture disc acts
in the forward (pressure) direc-
tion and in the other direction
according to the vacuum. This
allows a response for two dif-
ferently defined pressure values
in the over-pressure and vac-
uum direction which enables
the two types of rupture discs
to be simultaneously installed in
a single mounting location (see
Figure 2).
The highest rupture disc class
comprises customised compact
rupture discs. They are individ-
ually manufactured with respect
to geometry, dimensions, con-
nection, and burst pressure/
vacuum resistance. The range
of available types, for example,
includes welded units, rupture
discs for particularly high pres-
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Figure 1 KUB, a reverse acting rupture
disc. The buckling bars (predeter-
mined breaking points) face away
from the process
sures of several thousand of bar
and/or for temperatures of sev-
eral hundred degrees.
Advantages of rupture discs
In contrast to electronic and
pneumatic control systems,
rupture discs are 100% fail-
safe. Installation, operation and
maintenance are relatively sim-
ple and long gone are the times
where the burst pressure could
not be accurately defined. High
quality rupture discs, manufac-
tured with modern machines
and processes, can now be
defined with a burst pres-
sure within minute tolerances.
Working pressures of up to 98%
of the minimum burst pressure
are possible.
Further advantages of rupture
discs include:
• A better response to sudden
pressure increases than alter-
native safety devices through
faster opening times (usually <4
ms) and with a relief through
bore of a full cross-section open-
ing to enable the faster escape of
unacceptable pressure and flow.
• 100% isolation of the operat-
ing media, with no leakage prior
to the opening of the rupture
disc.
• Rupture discs offer a consid-
erable weight advantage, espe-
cially for larger diameters in
comparison to using a valve.
2 Revamps 2018
Figure 2 ZW bidirectional rupture
discs combine the functions of two
different discs and are therefore
often an economical solution
Rupture disc and safety valve
Rupture discs and safety valves
share the same duty: to open at
a defined pressure in order to
reduce unacceptable over-pres-
sure or vacuum within a pro-
cess. While a rupture disc is a
non-closing safety device which
must be replaced after it has
triggered, it is fail-safe with pre-
dictable operation and reliability
characteristics.
Safety valves close again after
the unacceptable pressure has
been relieved, thus a produc-
tion line can be restarted with-
out addressing the root cause
of the pressure event. However,
the acquisition, certification and
regular maintenance of safety
valves entails a significant finan-
cial and manpower/time input
to keep them in service.
The answer to the question
“Rupture disc or safety valve?”
is often rupture disc and safety
valve because a rupture disc
helps to eliminate the disadvan-
tages of a safety valve, and vice
versa. A combination of safety
valves and rupture discs ena-
bles the utilisation of less costly
safety valves made of lower
grade materials protected by the
correct rupture disc; this is espe-
cially important for sticky or
corrosive media. Additionally,
disassembly and testing of the
safety valve can be omitted dur-
ing in situ tests, for instance
maintenance and function
checks while online.
Safety valves tend to be less
tight after their initial trigger-
ing and usually require removal
and recertification. The rupture
disc which is installed upstream
from the safety valve ensures
isolation of the safety valve
until its set pressure, which is
an essential factor for the oper-
ator due to prevailing regula-
tions, laws and directives to
reduce leakage and rogue emis-
sions. The exchange of a rupture
disc is much less expensive com-
pared to that of a safety valve’s
requirement for maintenance/
recertification.
For some applications it is
advisable to conduct paral-
lel installation of a safety valve
and rupture disc. In the case of a
rapid and unacceptable pressure
increase, both units will trigger
and perform parallel relief.
A rupture disc is therefore
not a common technical supply
item, but rather the key safety
element that provides a decisive
contribution to  the overall plant
availability with or in addition
to safety valves. This is not just
limited to the oil and gas indus-
try but applies wherever pres-
sure and vacuum are present.
Case study: pressure protection
on transportation vessels
The transportation of danger-
ous chemicals is a huge chal-
lenge for manufacturers.
Hazardous materials have to
be handled extremely carefully
and are subject to strict regula-
tions regarding their transporta-
tion. To transport such material
around the world, special tanks
made from glass, lead, nickel
or monel are required depend-
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ing on the chemical in ques-
tion. Furthermore tanks have
to be protected by secure pres-
sure relief devices to ensure that
in the event of an unexpected
over-pressure during transpor-
tation, there is no damage to the
tank which would cause a spill-
age of these hazardous materi-
als. The rupture of a container
during transportation could
cause serious harm to peo-
ple and infrastructure or even
fatalities.
The relief devices in use have
to be robust and be able to with-
stand the medium they are in
contact with over a long period
of time and not deteriorate after
some time in service. Leak tight-
ness is a huge issue and there-
fore the combination of safety
valves and rupture discs is typ-
ically used in a belt and braces
approach. Rupture discs ensure
that the tank is leak tight, usu-
ally to 1x10 ^ -4 to 1x10 ^ -5
mbar x l/s and the use of a
safety valve downstream of the
rupture disc ensures that, in the
event of over-pressure activa-
tion, the escape of material will
be minimised because the valve
will reclose.
Designing a disc suitable for
these environments is a chal-
lenge for any manufacturer.
Firstly, careful consideration has
to be given to material selection
to ensure that, over time, the
disc is not susceptible to corro-
sion by being in contact with the
process medium since it is the
weakest and thinnest part of the
vessel.
REMBE is known for its
experience in producing spe-
cial rupture discs for particu-
larly challenging environments
and was recently approached to
solve a leakage problem one of
its customers was facing within
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their fleet of transportation
tanks.
The REMBE solution was
the KUB rupture disc which is
designed for challenging envi-
ronments such as these. The
customer wanted to know if
the technology used by REMBE
would prevent future leakages
on their transportation tanks.
Typical scored rupture discs
can be prone to corrosion along
the score lines since the use of
hard tooling to create the open-
ing pattern changes the mate-
rial structure and creates weak
points in the surface of the disc.
When in contact with challeng-
ing media, these corrosion paths
are accelerated.
Traditionally designed rup-
ture discs can also leak due
to incorrect installation.
Mishandling and applying
incorrect torque to these sensi-
tive burst membranes causes
minute cracks to appear along
the score lines. The KUB rupture
disc improves on ordinary sin-
gle layer designs by eliminating
these common disadvantages. It
benefits from a unique double
layer construction which gives
an extraordinary service life
even in tough environments.
The disc’s first layer handles
the burst pressure by incorpo-
rating buckling pin elements
added to the dome by high-pre-
cision laser cutting. Hard score
tooling is not used anywhere
in the process, thus eliminat-
ing one of the causes of corro-
sion susceptibility. Moreover,
the KUB disc has a burst layer
eight times thicker than scored
designs and the buckling pin
formula and the number and
shape of buckling pins precisely
determine the burst pressure,
which is independent of the
material thickness.
The second layer acts as a
sealing membrane that isolates
the first layer from harsh pro-
cess conditions. The sealing
membrane is not manipulated
in any way and therefore has
no weak points which can be
prone to corrosion or damaged
during installation. The double
layer construction also has the
advantage of allowing a com-
bination of materials to be used
for optimum corrosion resist-
ance such as, in this case, a tan-
talum sealing membrane and a
nickel buckling pin element. The
KUB design eases handling and
installation, thus minimising the
damage to the disc and elimi-
nating the majority of causes of
leakage which is critical in these
applications.
To ensure optimum installa-
tion of the KUB and other rup-
ture discs, REMBE offers a
training course via its author-
ised partner programme
whereby those whose job it is
to install and handle rupture
discs can learn first hand from
the experts how the disc should
be installed for optimum per-
formance. A number of service
providers have already bene-
fited from the certification pro-
gramme and rest assured that
their rupture discs are installed
as intended and will perform
correctly if called upon to do so.
Orhan Karagöz is Business Development
Director of REMBE GmbH.
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