Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SIMULATIONS
AGENDA
INTRODUCTION
STUDY RESULTS
CONCLUSION
Emergency vessels blowdown simulations - Orlando 2014 - Schneider-Electric Global Customer Conference 2
INTRODUCTION
Why to depressurize ?
Loss of control
(fire, power failure,
leak…)
Hazard for installation and
people (explosion, oil spill …)
Pressurized
hydrocarbons
Main concerns
• Wall vessel temperature Reliable predictive
Vessel material to be chosen to resist low temperatures simulation tools
needed
• Maximum flowrate to be flared
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TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES IN TOTAL UPSTREAM
Conceptual
Screening Pre-project Project
studies
Depressurization calculations are done at early stage of the studies: The flare size or safety zones have a significant
impact on the facilities layout or on a platform size. It can be of major importance in the choice of a concept.
RADIATIONS
Calculations are done through flaresim (softbits) software
It models thermal radiation and noise footprints generated by flare systems and predicts the
temperature of exposed surfaces
DISPERSION
Calculations are done through PHAST (DNV) software
It models atmospherics dispersion to determine the safety zones.
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INTERNAL RULES DERIVED FROM API 521
Initial conditions
- Initial pressure =system design pressure
- Initial liquid level in the drum, the calculations shall be conducted for both LAL
and LAH. The worst case shall be retained.
Final conditions
- P down to 8 bara or 50% of design pressure (whichever is the most stringent) in
15 minutes.
For cold cases, P down to atmospheric pressure to get the right minimum
temperature.
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METHODOLOGY
Two Reference tools considered in Total:
Blowdown (from Imperial College of London) and LNGDYN (From Technip) not
available for Total initial development studies (have to be subcontracted to ICL
or Technip, which is not compatible with the initial studies planning)
4 commercial software
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OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS OF THE STUDY
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RESULTS AND WORK AHEAD
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DEVELOPMENT WORK - COLLABORATION BETWEEN SIMSCI & TOTAL
Report temperature downstream the relief valve New Valve Mode – Orifice: It will automatically
detect if the flow is sonic or subsonic and use the
Add Depressuring Time vs. Pressure Summary to appropriate equations.
Depressuring report
Different head type (hemispherical, flat…)
Indicate whether flow through valve is critical or
subcritical Valve Policy & user control of flow rate and
depressuring time
Re-order product streams
Rigorous Dynamic Wetted Area calculation
Create pseudo-streams corresponding to
instantaneous vent rates at specific times Support Density and thickness in Vessel
Geometry
Supply wall and liquid temperature profiles
Require final pressure in depressuring unit to be
Documentation on depressurization unit exactly the specified PFINAL
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FURTHER ENHANCEMENTS PROPOSED TO BE DONE
• Two wall temperatures: Twliq for the liquid side and Twgas for gas
side
Twgas
Twliq
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CONCLUSIONS
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