STUDIERICHTING

WERKTUIGBOUWKUNDE Wb

Performance and Design Optimization of a

Mixed Bed Vessel’s Distributor Based on
Dynamic FSI Simulations
Daryll Wakidjan

26 August 2022
 CONTENT
• INTRODUCTION
– An overview of the background information surrounding this
project
• PROBLEM DEFINTION
– A description of the problem that has occurred in Mixed Bed
Vessels in use by Staatsolie Raffinaderij Tout Li Fout
• OBJECTIVE AND TASKS
– Further elaboration of the goal of this thesis, and a list of
deliverables that the student will provide

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 INTRODUCTION
• Purpose of Water Treatment
– Removing undesired minerals/ions (Ca+, Mg+)
– Standard for industrial applications
• Deionization Process
– Insoluble plastic orbs
– Cation and Anion Resin
– Absorbs undesired ions and replaces them with H+ and OH- ions
• Mixed-Bed Vessels
– Combines Anion and Cation resin within a single vessel

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 INTRODUCTION cont’d
• Resin regeneration
– Reintroduces desired ions (H+ and OH-) to the resin
– Achieved by injecting acids into vessel (NaOH and H2SO4)
– Starts at a specific water conductivity value

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 INTRODUCTION cont’d
• Staatsolie Vessels C-9302-V4 A&B

Fig. 1 – SOM Mixed Bed Vessel-

C9302-V4 A (Side View)

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 INTRODUCTION cont’d
• Staatsolie Vessels C-9302-V4 A&B

Fig. 2 – Isolated view of

Lower Distributor (Top view)

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 PROBLEM DEFINITION
Regeneration of the resin within the TLF Raffinaderij Mixed Bed Vessels
is based on a certain conductivtiy value. However, before this value is
reached, the differential pressure across the lower distributor is
exceeded, causing the lower distributor to bend and its components to
break. Both Vessels operate under the same conditions and both exhibit
the same damages.

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 PROBLEM DEFINITION cont’d
Staatsolie Vessels C-9302-V4 A&B
• Design Parameters (Provided by Manufacturer)
– Desired conductivity value 0.2 µS/cm
– Max. design differential pressure 0.8 bar
• Environmental Data and Damages
– Measured differential pressure 2 bar
– Broken cross tees and flange connection
– Severe deflection of the lower distributor, branches and pipe
supports

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PROBLEM DEFINITION cont’d

Fig. 3 - Undeformed state of the lower distributor simulated in ANSYS

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PROBLEM DEFINITION cont’d

Fig. 4 - Deformed state of the lower distributor simulated in ANSYS

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 OBJECTIVE
The objective is to determine the root cause of the spike in differential
pressure, to identify the failure parameters of the lower distributor and
to offer a redesign of the distributor based on acquired results through
Fluid-Structure Interaction analysis.

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 TASKS
• Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) Analysis
– One-way FSI
The flow affects the structural integrity of the system
– Two-way FSI
The flow affects the structural integrity of the system, and in turn,
the structure can affect the flow conditions

• Root Cause Analysis

– Fishbone Method
– Fault Tree Analysis

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 TASKS cont’d
The student will provide the following:
• Analysis of Fluid-Structure Interaction of the distributor header in a
mixed bed vessel under normal and extreme operating conditions
• A listing of the failure conditions under dynamic operating
conditions
• A Root-Cause-Analysis to determine the spike in differential
pressure during regeneration.
• A design optimization of the distributor and its pipe supports.

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 TASKS cont’d
Timeline for this project:

Phase I Literature study and developing the

Week 1 – Week 4 skills needed to perform an FSI
analysis in ANSYS
Phase II Modeling, simulating and verifying
Week 5 – Week 16 the simulations.

Phase III Parametric analysis to determine the

Week 17 – Week 24 design optimization based on the
acquired results and providing
conclusions and recommendations

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 QUESTIONS?

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