Transient Evaluation for LPG and Oil Pipelines

Nowadays, anticipating and controlling transient response is a critical design activity for ensuring both safety and integrity of the operational subsea system. Predicting transient effect, commonly known as surge pressure, is of high importance for offshore industry. In order to determine the installation of protection equipments to avoid surge pressure effects, the operational teams have raised concerns, whether the system is adequately designed to protect the subsea system against possible surge pressures during the event of sudden closure of a valve. Researches, referred to transient effects, explain that is necessary to evaluate the system performance under current and desired operating conditions. The main goal of this paper is to predict the surge pressure during unforeseen closure valves at Refrigerated LPG and Gasoline (C₅₊) pipeline systems. In these systems the valves are located downstream the flowlines. Detailed computer modeling attempts to simulate the complex interactions between flowline and fluid, aiming at providing efficient flowline system integrity. These models are based on Transient Methodology which is defined for a set of nonlinear partial differential equations that relate fundamental variables with pressure head and flow velocity. The solution of differential equations has been carried out by Finite Difference Method that transforms these equations into characteristic equations. These can be accurately solved through high-speed digital computers. Flowmaster, Chicago, USA, was the software used to develop the analysis models. The software offers an advanced graphical interface to build networks and resultant graphics. The results from Flowmaster have been validated through a defined methodology that applies the Characteristics Method based on Wylie and Streeter assumptions. Simulations considering the fluid as gasoline have shown a sudden damping of pressure wave when the valve closure time was 10 seconds, leading to the restoration of the initial flow conditions. The analysis using the Method of Characteristics, however, does not exhibit this sudden damping, although a gradually reduction of fluctuations around the initial pressure are observed. The transient analysis through Flowmaster for Refrigerated LPG leads to a pressure envelope that shows a change of the flow direction triggering a cyclical process until the restoration of the initial operational conditions.