Fluid Transport: Pipes

Fluid Transport

Pipes

Jean-Paul Duroudier

Industrial Equipment for Chemical Engineering Set

coordinated by

Jean-Paul Duroudier

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Dedication

Copyright

Preface

1: Fluid Ejectors and Gas Ejectors

Abstract

1.1 General

1.2 Liquid–liquid or gas–gas ejectors

1.3 Gas ejectors and thermocompressors

1.4 Practical applications of ejectors and thermocompressors

2: Pipe Dimensions, Non-Newtonian Fluids, Liquid Hammer

Abstract

2.1 Establishing pipe diameter

2.2 Establishing pipe thickness

2.3 Flanges, seals and accessories

2.4 Sound waves in pipes

2.5 Mechanism of liquid hammer

2.6 Approximate simulation method for simple pipes (without intermediate accessories and fittings)

2.7 Simplified graphic method

2.8 Anti-liquid hammer chambers

3: Block or Stop Valves and Control Valves

Abstract

3.1 On valves in general

3.2 Different types of valves

3.3 Control valve choice and calculation

3.4 The process parameters of a control valve

4: Electric Motors: Performance and Choice of Pumps and Fans

Abstract

4.1 Choice of motor

4.2 Utilization of motors

4.3 Turbopumps

4.4 Volumetric pumps

4.5 Special cases

4.6 Fans

5: Polymer Extruder Screw

Abstract

5.1 Introduction of extrusion screw

5.2 Movement of the polymer in the screw channel

5.3 Heat for polymer melting

5.4 Shaft electrical power

5.5 Practical considerations and screw use

5.6 Mixing and thermal transfer in the screw

6: Choice and Performance of Compressors

Abstract

6.1 About compressors

6.2 Reciprocating compressors

6.3 Open volumetric compression – screw compressors and lobe compressors

6.4 Turbo compressors

6.5 Fans

6.6 Liquid ring pumps

7: Free Gas Expansion

Abstract

7.1 Types of expansion: one-dimensional flow equations

7.2 Theoretical study of control valves, safety valves and gas pipelines

8: Safety Valves and Rupture Disks

Abstract

8.1 Pressure around a safety valve

8.2 Choice between two types of safety valves

8.3 Relationship between flowrate and pressure

8.4 Upstream and downstream connections

8.5 Various applications

8.6 Rupture disks

9: Breathing, Inerting, Gas Losses and Circulation between Reservoirs, Tanks and Vats

Abstract

9.1 Breather valve specifications: reservoir filling ratio limitations

9.2 Assessment of losses to the atmosphere

9.3 Circulation of liquid between reservoirs

10: Flow in Pipes: Rarified Gas, Non-Newtonian Liquids, Events, Gas–Liquid Flow

Abstract

10.1 Rarified gas

10.2 Consistent or plastic products

10.3 Vents

10.4 Nature of gas–liquid flows

10.5 Pressure drop in gas–liquid flows

10.6 Critical biphasic flow

Appendix: Characteristics of Various Gases

Bibliography

Index

Dedication

There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.

Louis Pasteur (11 September 1871)

Dedicated to my wife, Anne, without whose unwavering support, none of this would have been possible.

Copyright

First published 2016 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Press Ltd and Elsevier Ltd

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

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Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

For information on all our publications visit our website at http://store.elsevier.com/

© ISTE Press Ltd 2016

The rights of Jean-Paul Duroudier to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 978-1-78548-184-0

Printed and bound in the UK and US

Preface

The observation is often made that, in creating a chemical installation, the time spent on the recipient where the reaction takes place (the reactor) accounts for no more than 5% of the total time spent on the project. This series of books deals with the remaining 95% (with the exception of oil-fired furnaces).

It is conceivable that humans will never understand all the truths of the world. What is certain, though, is that we can and indeed must understand what we and other humans have done and created, and, in particular, the tools we have designed.

Even two thousand years ago, the saying existed: faber fit fabricando, which, loosely translated, means: "c’est en forgeant que l’on devient forgeron" (a popular French adage: one becomes a smith by smithing), or, still more freely translated into English, practice makes perfect. The artisan (faber) of the 21st Century is really the engineer who devises or describes models of thought. It is precisely that which this series of books investigates, the author having long combined industrial practice and reflection about world research.

Scientific and technical research in the 20th century was characterized by a veritable explosion of results. Undeniably, some of the techniques discussed herein date back a very long way (for instance, the mixture of water and ethanol has been being distilled for over a millennium). Today, though, computers are needed to simulate the operation of the atmospheric distillation column of an oil refinery. The laws used may be simple statistical correlations but, sometimes, simple reasoning is enough to account for a phenomenon.

Since our very beginnings on this planet, humans have had to deal with the four primordial elements as they were known in the ancient world: earth, water, air and fire (and a fifth: aether). Today, we speak of gases, liquids, minerals and vegetables, and finally energy.

The unit operation expressing the behavior of matter are described in thirteen volumes.

It would be pointless, as popular wisdom has it, to try to reinvent the wheel – i.e. go through prior results. Indeed, we well know that all human reflection is based on memory, and it has been said for centuries that every generation is standing on the shoulders of the previous one.

Therefore, exploiting numerous references taken from all over the world, this series of books describes the operation, the advantages, the drawbacks and, especially, the choices needing to be made for the various pieces of equipment used in tens of elementary operations in industry. It presents simple calculations but also sophisticated logics which will help businesses avoid lengthy and costly testing and trial-and-error.

Herein, readers will find the methods needed for the understanding the machinery, even if, sometimes, we must not shy away from complicated calculations. Fortunately, engineers are trained in computer science, and highly-accurate machines are available on the market, which enables the operator or designer to, themselves, build the programs they need. Indeed, we have to be careful in using commercial programs with obscure internal logic which are not necessarily well suited to the problem at hand.

The copies of all the publications used in this book were provided by the Institut National d’Information Scientifique et Technique at Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy.

The books published in France can be consulted at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France; those from elsewhere are available at the British Library in London.

In the in-chapter bibliographies, the name of the author is specified so as to give each researcher his/her due. By consulting these works, readers may gain more in-depth knowledge about each subject if he/she so desires. In a reflection of today’s multilingual world, the references to which this series points are in German, French and English.

The problems of optimization of costs have not been touched upon. However, when armed with a good knowledge of the devices’ operating parameters, there is no problem with using the method of steepest descent so as to minimize the sum of the investment and operating expenditure.

1

Fluid Ejectors and Gas Ejectors

Abstract

Consider a convergent followed by a divergent. Between them is a neck with a constant cross-section, and the driving fluid goes through this convergent–divergent.

Keywords

Consumption; Driving fluid; Fluid Ejectors; Gas Ejectors; Global compression ratio; Nozzle; Stability; Suction fluid; Thermocompressors

1.1 General

1.1.1 Principle of an ejector

Consider a convergent followed by a divergent. Between them is a neck with a constant cross-section, and the driving fluid goes through this convergent–divergent.

Using the Bernoulli equation, we can describe the flow of an incompressible fluid:

In other words, the more the velocity increases, the more the pressure diminishes.

At the neck, the speed is at its maximum and the pressure is at its minimum. Consequently, this location can be used for the arrival of suction fluid piping.

We will see that, for a simple fluid, the conservation of momentum should be employed.

Gases require:

– the conservation of energy;

– the conservation of momentum.

It is accepted that the transformations are initially adiabatic and that the subsequent temperature of the combined motor gas + suction gas is calculated by the rule of mixtures.

Before going further, the reader would benefit from an understanding of the treatment of Fluid Mechanics by Brun et al. [BRU 68] concerning:

– the flow of incompressible fluids;

– the flow of compressible fluids.

1.2 Liquid–liquid or gas–gas ejectors

1.2.1 Parameters of the problem

Here, we accept that, in the mixing chamber located between crosssections e and s, the mixture is uniform throughout. We will call the value of this cross-section A (in m²).

Figure 1.1 Fluid–fluid ejector

Now, we will define the various parameters required.

Wa: flow rate of suction fluid (kg.s− 1)

τ: ratio of the cross-section of the driving fluid outflow nozzle to the chamber cross-section

σ: ratio of the driving fluid flow to the flow rate of suction fluid (specific consumption)

Pao: pressure generated by suction liquid (Pa)

Pmo: pressure generated by driving liquid (Pa)

Pe: pressure at the entrance of the mixing chamber (Pa)

Ps: pressure at the exit of the mixing chamber (Pa)

Pr: pressure on diffuser discharge (Pa)

ρa, ρm, ρr: measured densities of suction fluid, driving fluid and mixture discharged at diffuser exit (kg.m− 3).

1.2.2 Finding the characteristic equation

This equation allows us to calculate σ according to τ in view of pressures Pao, Pmo and Pr.

The acceleration of the driving liquid is denoted by the following expression:

   [1.1]

In this expression:

ηm is the yield of the operation.

Ume is the velocity of the driving fluid at the entrance of the mixing chamber:

Similarly, the acceleration of the suction fluid is denoted by:

With:

Let us note the conservation of momentum:

   [1.2]

The coefficient λ denotes the loss of pressure in the mixing chamber.

On the other hand:

   [1.3]

After the mixing chamber, the diffuser obtains pressure recovery:

ηD: yield of diffuser

δ: square of the cross-sections ratio of the divergent.

By replacing Us with its value, we reach:

   [1.4]

Now, eliminate Pe between equations [1.1] and [1.2]:

   [1.5]

Eliminate Ps between [1.5] and [1.2]:

   [1.6]

Eliminate Pe between [1.1] and [1.6]:

   [1.7]

Assuming:

by dividing expression [1.7] by [1.5]:

   [1.8]

Note that Π < 1.

Knowing the three pressures, that is, Π, equation [1.8] allows for the calculation of σ according to Π and τ.

Equation [1.8] is the operational characteristic equation.

On the other hand, equation [1.5] or [1.7] provides the value of Wa/A, which determines the flows in terms of absolute value if we supply A.

We will perform the full calculation in the following hypotheses:

– Both fluids are of the same nature, in which case:

The characteristic equation [1.8] is simplified:

   [1.9]

If we need to solve this expression with respect to σ, we obtain a second degree equation:

The discriminant of this equation is written as:

If τ < 0.5, which is typically the case, the discriminant Δ is positive, so we have:

Only the symbol + corresponds with the real operation.

1.3 Gas ejectors and thermocompressors

1.3.1 Parameters of the problem

We use the one-dimensional theory which supposes that the properties of fluids and their behavior are constant through the area of their flow crosssection. A three-dimensional theory would account for these variations; however, the results of the one-dimensional theory are sufficient in accounting for experimental results.

We will take as known the results of compressible fluid mechanics in subsonic or supersonic flow.

Readers may refer to the work of Brun et al. [BRU 68].

The details are represented in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2 Principle of a gas–gas ejector

Wa: rate of suction gas (kg.s− 1)

Ae: cross-section of mixing passage (m²)

G: flow quotient preceded by section Ae (kg.s− 1.m− 2)

τcol: ratio of the nozzle neck cross-section to section Ae

τtu: ratio of the nozzle mouth cross-section to section Ae

σ: specific consumption (ratio of the driving fluid flow to the flow rate of suction fluid)

Vme, Vae: velocity of driving gas and suction gas prior to mixing (m.s− 1)

γm, γa, γr: ratio of specific heat for the driving gas, suction gas and the discharged mixture

Mm, Ma, Mr: molar mass of the driving gas, suction gas and the discharged mixture (kg.kmol− 1)

Pao, Tao: pressure generated and resting temperature of suction gas (Pa and K)

Pmo, Tmo: generated pressure and resting temperature of driving gas (Pa and K)

Pe: pressure prior to mixture (Pa)

Ps, Ts, ρs: pressure, temperature and density after mixture

Pr,Tr, ρr: pressure, temperature and density on discharge.

Densities are measured in kg.m− 3

The gas constant is R = 8 314 J.kmol− 1.K− 1.

1.3.2 Flow and velocity of driving fluid

At the nozzle neck, the flow is sonic:

This expression is taken as the limit of the subsonic flow [BRU 68 p. 391] with support from the critical values [BRU 68 p. 389].

The ratio of the nozzle mouth cross-section to this neck is:

   [BRU 68 p. 408]

Providing nozzle geometry, it is then possible to deduce the ratio Pe/Pmo for a supersonic flow by calculating successive approximations.

In the nozzle, relaxation is adiabatic:

Also as with adiabatic relaxation, the velocity at the exit of the nozzle is obtained by:

   [BRU 68 p. 365]

1.3.3 Flow and velocity of the suction fluid

The suction gas is sucked at pressure Pao and brought to pressure Pe at the entrance of the mixing chamber.

The loosening ratio Pe/Pao can be inferior or superior to the critical ratio rac.

   [BRU 68 p. 389]

1) Pe/Pao < rac supersonic loosening (see section 1.3.2):

Flow is calculated with the driving fluid:

2) Pe/Pao > rac Subsonic loosening:

   [BRU 68 p. 360]

Temperature at the entrance of the mixing chamber corresponds to adiabatic loosening:

The velocity Vae of the suction fluid at the entrance of the mixing chamber is then obtained:

   [BRU 68 p. 360]

1.3.4 Specific consumption σ

This ratio is deduced from the outcome of the expressions that we have already calculated:

Flow density G may also