SimCentral™ Simulation Platform

F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring

Version 4.1
December 2019
© 2019 AVEVA Group plc and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.

No part of this documentation shall be reproduced, stored in a ret rieval sy stem, or transmitted by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, rec ording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of AVEVA. No liability is assumed wit h respect to the use of the information c ontained herein.
Although precaution has been taken in the preparation of this documentation, AVEVA assumes no
responsibility for errors or omissions. The information in this documentation is subject to change without
notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of AVEVA. The soft ware described in this
documentation is furnished under a license agreement. This soft ware may be used or copied only in
accordance with the terms of such license agreement.
ArchestrA, Aquis, Avantis, Citect, DYNSIM, eDNA, EYESIM, InBatch, InduSoft, InStep, Int el aTrac,
InTouch, OASyS, PIPEPHASE, PRiSM, PRO/II, PROV ISION, ROMeo, SIM4ME, SimCentral, SimSci,
Skelta, SmartGlance, Spiral Software, Termis, WindowMaker, WindowViewer, and Wonderware are
trademarks of AVEVA and/or its subsidiaries. An extensive listing of AVEVA trademarks can be found at:
https://sw.aveva.com/legal. All other brands may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Publication date: Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Contact Information
AVEVA Group plc
High Cross
Madingley Road
Cambridge
CB3 0HB. UK
https://sw.aveva.com/
For information on how to cont act sales, customer training, and technical support, see
https://sw.aveva.com/contact.
Acknowledgements
CSPARSE
To analyze and report proper variable specification, SimCent ral Simulation Platform makes use of
CSPARSE, a library of direct methods for sparse linear systems by Timothy Davis. CSPARSE is free
software and is distribut ed under the GNU Lesser General Public License
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html) as published by the Free Software Foundation.
The source code for CSPARSE is available at
http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/c_src/csparse/csparse.html.
KLU
SimCent ral Simulation Platform us es KLU as its linear equation solver. KLU is an open-source solver
package with a focus on solving sparse linear systems of equations. Timothy A. Davis distributes KLU as
part of the SuiteSparse software (http://www.suitesparse.com) under the GNU Lesser General Public
License and a University of Florida copyright.
 SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring

Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 3
Cryogenic Depressuring.......................................................................................................... 7
Cryogenic Depressuring Revision Log ...................................................................................... 7
Summary .................................................................................................................................. 7
Process Description .................................................................................................................. 8
Simulation Model ...................................................................................................................... 9
Library ................................................................................................................................ 9
Fluids ................................................................................................................................. 9
Mode Summary ................................................................................................................... 9
Process Mode ................................................................................................................... 10
Dynamics Mode ................................................................................................................ 10
Results ................................................................................................................................... 12
Results Dynamics Mode .................................................................................................. 12
Snapshots ........................................................................................................................ 13
Excel Report ..................................................................................................................... 13

Version 4.1 5
 SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring

Cryogenic Depressuring
Revision Log
Date Who Change

8 May 2017 DK Initial draft for first release.

11 Sep 2017 DK Modified for SimCentral 2.0.

31 May 2019 AL Modified for SimCentral 3.3 Beta.

Please note that from time to time we make changes to SimCentral Simulation Plat form and the example
simulations. These changes may not be reflected in this document for every SimCentral Simulation
Platform soft ware release. There may be modeling details that are different , screenshots that do not
match, and numerical answers that are different. We will update the examples in a future version of
SimCent ral Simulation Platform.

Summary
This example demonstrates how we can use SimCentral Simulation Platform for the thermal analysis of
flare relief lines to realistically calculate the mean met al temperatures for pipe walls during relief and
avoid unnecessary metallurgy costs.
According to ASME code, the design of vessels and piping should be based on the mean metal
temperature, not on the temperature of the fluid contacting the metal. The use of very cold or very hot
fluid temperatures can lead to expensive metallurgy choices and unrealisti c mechanical design
requirements for equipment and can complicate the piping stress design. In many cases, such as this
cryogenic depressuring simulation, the mean metal temperature is substantially less severe than the
fluid temperature and we can avoid expensive metallurgy and design choices.
The following figure illustrates the refinery steam balance as constructed in SimCentral Simulation
Platform.

Version 4.1 7
SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring Cryogenic Depressuring

The objective of this simulation is to calculate the temperature profile along the length of the pipe as a
function of time to facilitate the met allurgy selection for a long cryog enic flare relief pipe.

Process Description
In this system, the process, which we represent by two drums (V1 and V2), is depressurized through a
valve, XV5, in an emergency situation. Due to the high initial pressure, the fluid temperature becomes
very cold while depressurizing and is furt her reduced due to a Joule-Thomson expansion across XV5. As
a result, the metal temperat ure of the pipe wall cools due to heat transfer with the cold fluid. Since there
is a finite holdup in the drums, the pipe does not reach a steady -state solution and the flow diminishes as
the invent ory in the drums depletes. We must det ermine which sections of the pipe require stainless steel
and which sections can use carbon steel, with the use of carbon steel resulting in a significant cost
savings.
The following tables show the gas source conditions, proc ess conditions and equipment sizes.
Stream Composition

Component Mole %

Methane 43.2

Ethane 43.2

Propane 13.1

Butane 5

Process Conditions

Type Name Condition Value UOM

Source SRC1 Flow 95,627 kg/h

Source SRC1 Temperat ure 25.85 ºC

Source SRC1 Pressure 6,500 kPa

Drum V1 Pressure 6,458 kPa

Drum V2 Pressure 6,034 kPa

Equipment Sizes

Type Name Size Value UOM

3
Drum V1 Volume 96 m

3
Drum V2 Volume 96 m

Valve XV1 Cv 500

Valve XV4 Cv 500

8 Version 4.1
Cryogenic Depressuring SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring

Type Name Size Value UOM

Valve XV5 Cv 100

Pipe PIR1 Total Length 625 m

Pipe PIR1 Diameter 12 NPS

Simulation Model
Library
This simulation uses the Flare library.

Fluids
This simulation uses a custom fluid named F5fluid, whic h we designed as a VLE compositional fluid and
modeled with the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK ) equation of state.

Mode Summary
The following table summarizes the different simulation modes.

Mode Process Fluid Flow Dynamics

Purpose Perform a heat and Not applicable. Dynamically calculate

material balance to the drum pressures, the
initialize the dynamic drum temperatures, and
simulation. the wall temperatures of
the metal pipes.

Drum s Calculat e the Not applicable. Isentropically

vapor-liquid separation if depressurize the drums
any. to calculate the pressure
and temperatures.

Valve XV5 Has no impact. The Not applicable. Calculat e the flow
valve is closed. assuming choked flow
from the valve Cv.

PipeRig Calculat e the initial wall Not applicable. Calculat e the dynamic
temperature bas ed on wall temperature of the
heat transfer to the air. metal pipe from the heat
transfer from the fluid
and to the air.

Mixer Has no impact. Not applicable. Calculat e the pressure

due to the fluid
accumulation.

Version 4.1 9
SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring Cryogenic Depressuring

Process Mode
The purpose of Process mode is to initialize the system at normal operating conditions prior to the
depressurization. The feed valve, XV1, and product valve, XV4, are open. The depressurizing valve,
XV5, is closed. There is no flow in the relief pipe so the wall temperature of the metal pipe equilibrates
with the ambient air temperature.

Dynamics Mode
During Dynamics mode, the inlet and outlet valves, XV1 and XV4, close and the drums are isentropically
depressurized through valve XV5 to calculate the fluid temperature. To accurat ely calculate the metal
temperatures across the length of the pipe, we us e a rigorous pipe with the PipeInAir heat transfer
method that calculates the heat transfer from the fluid to the pipe wall and from the pipe wall to the
ambient air.
The rigorous pipe calculates the temperature along the length of the pipe. This 12-inch pipe has 5
segments of equal length. We model the pressure drop through the entire pipe by using the length of
each pipe segment to calculate the correct fluid pressure.
We set the following conditions for the rigorous pipe:
 It calculates the heat transfer from the fluid to the pipe wall.
 It uses the PipeInAir setting to calculate the heat transfer form the pipe metal to the ambient air.
 It uses the Beggs and Brill Moody High Velocity (BBMHV ) calculations.
 It uses average conditions of pressure and temperature for each segment.
 The total length of the pipe is 625 m.

10 Version 4.1
Cryogenic Depressuring SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring

We automate the depressurization of the drums by using a Scenario, as shown in the following figure. In
this Scenario, aft er one minute, we isolate the two drums by closing the feed valve XV1 and the product
valve XV4 while opening t he vent valve XV5 to the relief pipe. The simulation then runs until it reaches 20
minutes.

Version 4.1 11
SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring Cryogenic Depressuring

Results
Dynamics Mode
The following figure shows the depressuriz ed drums after the vent valve opens. The drums are
depressurized from 6,500 kPa to 850 kPa in 20 minutes. The maximum relief flow is approximately
120,000 kg/h.

The following figure shows the temperature profile in the pipe during the depressurization process.

The fluid enters the pipe at less than -50°C but then rises again as backpressure builds in the pipe. Note
that the fluid is below --50°C at time 0, before the valve opens. We calculate this temperature from the
adiabatic expansion of the fluid through the valve XV5, which is upstream of the pipe. At time 0, there is
no flow, but we still get a calculated temperature from the pressure difference. The metal wall is at
ambient temperature, as expected.

12 Version 4.1
Cryogenic Depressuring SimCentral™ Simulation Platform F5 - Cryogenic Depressuring

Each pipe segment gradually cools down. The pipe metal wall and the fluid inside it are initially at
ambient temperature. The segment closest to valve XV5 cools down first, as shown by the darkest blue
line. The temperature of the last segment (the light est blue line) slightly increases at first because of the
compression of the gas inside the pipe. As we establish flow, the temperature of the metal starts to
decrease.
We can see that only the first and second pipe segments cool down to less than -29ºC, the temperature
at which stainless steel piping may be required. However, all other pipe segments remain above -29ºC,
meaning that we can make a substantial portion of the pipe (~400 m) by using carbon steel for a
significant cost savings.

Snapshots
The simulation includes the following snapshots.

Excel Report
The results for this simulation are summarized in the F5 – Cryogenic Depressuring.xlsx file.

Version 4.1 13