Effect of Corrugation on the Performance of Porous Baffles Used as Weather Shelters on Oil and Gas Platforms

Porous baffles are usually used for weather protection on onshore and offshore oil installations in order to provide a sheltered area for personnel to operate. Corrugated fences are more favourable than flat fences in large installations, due to their increased stiffness; however, the performance of those fences is expected to differ from flat fences due to changes in porosity and flow structure. In this work, the experimental and numerical studies of the influence of corrugated fence on the flow characteristics are presented. The tri-dimensional effect imposed by the angle of corrugation and the depth of the fence influences the windward and leeward flow characteristics with respect to the fence. Velocity coefficient is used as one important parameter for measuring the performance of porous fences. It was found that, under similar conditions, the total obstruction produced by the corrugated fence varies significantly from that of the flat fence. Hence, velocity reduction for a corrugated fence system is expected to be smaller. A complete description of the physics of the fluid mechanics around the fence is given. Furthermore, the behaviour of the stream lines close to the fences in both cases; corrugated and non-corrugated, were studied using CFD techniques. Through observation of local pressure distribution, it was possible to reveal how velocity variations were concentrated around the inclined sections of the corrugated fence. In performing the numerical simulations, a two dimensional approach was initially implemented to capture the flow behaviour in the vicinity of the inclined sections. Subsequently, a tri-dimensional simulation on a section of the fence was undertaken and compared with experimental data. The results of the simulations were in good agreement with experimental data obtained from wind tunnel tests.