Lesson No 2.

- Liquid Control Valve Sizing

Problem Statement Based on the process conditions, to size the
A Single ported, Globe styled Control Valve is to control valve, the following Liquid control valve
be sized for Liquid Propane service. The valve sizing set of equations can be used,
plug style is cage-guided with equal percentage Step 1: Calculate Piping Geometry (Fp) & Liquid
characteristics. The control valve is placed on an Pressure Recovery Factor (FLP)
8” DN (ASME B36.10M) pipe that has a wall −𝟏⁄
thickness of 8.18 mm. ∑𝑲 𝑪𝑽 𝟐 𝟐
𝑭𝑷 = [𝟏 + ( 𝟐) ] (1)
𝑵𝟐 𝒅
Based on ANSI/ISA S75.01.01 Standards, the
requirement is to check if a 2”, 3” or a 4” control Where,
valve caters to the service & how much should Fp = Piping geometric Factor [-]
the control valve %opening be, during service.
N1 = Constant [Value = 1.0]
N2 = Constant [Value = 890]
Cv = Valve Coefficient [GPM/psi]
d = Control Valve Size [inch]
The value of Fp is dependent on the fittings such
as reducers, elbows or tees that are directly
Figure 1. Control Valve Schematic attached to the inlet & outlet connections of the
The process flow conditions are as follows, control valve. If there are no fittings, Fp is taken
Table 1. Input Data [1]
to be 1.0. The term K is the algebraic sum of the
velocity head loss coefficients of all the fittings
Parameter Value Units
that are attached to the control valve & is
Flow Rate [Q] 800 GPM estimated as,
Inlet Pressure [P1] 300 psig ∑ 𝑲 = 𝑲𝟏 + 𝑲𝟐 + 𝑲𝑩𝟏 −𝑲𝑩𝟐 (2)
Outlet Pressure [P2] 275 psig Where,
Pressure Drop [PValve] 25 psi K1 = Upstream fitting Resistance Coefficient [-]
0
Inlet Temperature [T1] 70 F K2 = Downstream fitting Resistance Coefficient [-]
1/0 0.5 - KB1 = Inlet Bernoulli Coefficient [-]
Vapour Pressure [Pv] 124.3 psia KB2 = Outlet Bernoulli Coefficient [-]
Critical Pressure [Pc] 616.3 psia Where,
𝒅 𝟒
The control valve details to be checked for are, 𝑲𝑩𝟏 = 𝟏 − (𝑫 ) (3)
𝟏
Table 2. Control Valve Details [1] 𝒅 𝟒
𝑲𝑩𝟐 = 𝟏 − (𝑫 ) (4)
Control Valve Cv@100% Opening FL 𝟐

Where,
2” Size 59.7 0.85
D1 = Pipe Inlet Diameter [in]
3” Size 136 0.82
D2 = Pipe Outlet Diameter [in]
4” Size 224 0.82

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If the upstream and downstream piping are of Else, Repeat calculations for next size.
equal size, then, KB1 = KB2, and therefore, are Step 3: Calculate Required Control Valve Cv
dropped from the ΣK equation.
The required control valve Cv is calculated as,
“In the current undertaking, assume that 𝑸
downstream pipe size is similar to upstream 𝑪𝒗 = (11)
∆𝑷𝑺𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈
pipe size of 8”, i.e., D1 = D2. Hence KB1 = KB2” 𝑵𝟏 𝑭 𝒑 √ 𝝆 𝟏
[ ⁄𝝆 ]
𝟎

The most commonly used fitting in control valve Upon calculating the required Cv, it is required to
installations is the short-length concentric check if the calculated Cv is within the Cv limit of
reducer. The equations for these fittings are as the selected control valve. If not, the next size of
follows, control valve is chosen and the calculations are
𝟐
𝒅𝟐 repeated.
𝑲𝟏 = 𝟎. 𝟓 × [𝟏 − (𝑫𝟐 )] , for inlet reducer (5)
𝟏
𝟐 To arrive at accurate predictions for Cv of the
𝒅𝟐
𝑲𝟐 = 𝟏. 𝟎 × [𝟏 − (𝑫𝟐 )] , for outlet reducer (6) selected size, the calculations are repeated by re-
𝟐
inserting the calculated Cv & control valve size (d)
If the concentric reducers installed on either side value into the Fp equation, i.e., Eq. 1 to calculate
of the control valve are identical, then the new value of Fp & further continued to
𝟐
𝒅𝟐
∑ 𝑲 = 𝑲𝟏 + 𝑲𝟐 = 𝟏. 𝟓 × [𝟏 − ( 𝟐 )] (7) estimate the final value of Cv. If the FL value were
𝑫
to change between iterations, these values would
“In the current undertaking, assume that need to be updated, and Cv re-calculated.
concentric reducers installed on either side of
References
the control valve are identical, i.e., K = K1 + K2
Control Valve Handbook, 5th Edition, Emerson
The liquid Pressure Recovery Factor (FLP) can be
Graphics Illustrations By,
calculated as,
−𝟏⁄ Lili’s Papers Co. – Lilispapersco@yahoo.com
𝑲𝟏 +𝑲𝑩𝟏 𝑪𝒗 𝟐 𝟏 𝟐
𝑭𝑳𝑷 = [ ( 𝟐) + ] (8)
𝑵𝟐 𝒅 𝑭𝟐𝑳

Step 2: Calculate Pressure Drop Required for

Sizing (Psizing)
To estimate the pressure drop required for sizing,
Psizing, first the liquid critical pressure ratio (FF) is
calculated. Therefore,
𝑷
𝑭𝑭 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟔 − 𝟎. 𝟐𝟖√ 𝑷𝒗 (9)
𝒄

Where,
FF = Liquid Critical Pressure Ratio [-]
Pv = Vapour Pressure [psia]
Pc = Critical Pressure [psia]
Using the value of FF, Pchoked is calculated as,
𝑭 𝟐
∆𝑷𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 = [ 𝑭𝑳𝑷 ] [𝑷𝟏 − 𝑭𝑭 𝑷𝒗 ] (10)
𝑷

If PValve  PChoked, then P = PSzing

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