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Subject: Valve Test Burst Safety Distance

1 INTRODUCTION
This technical notes describe the methodology and the calculation procedure to estimate the maximum
gas volume that can be tested safely without damaging the test facility. The methodology used here is
based on BLEVEs approach on estimating fragment velocity/1/. Due to limited information about the
valves to be tested, some assumptions about the valve material and wall thickness have been made in
order to evaluate the mass of the valve. These assumptions were made in order to perform a test case.
With revised input data, the equations provided in this Technical Note can be used to further evaluate
the maximum volume that can used to safely test the valve.

2 ESTIMATING THE GAS VOLUME


The approach used to estimate the gas volume is based on correlations used for BLEVEs where a
container can fail as a result of internal pressure, vessel material brittleness …etc. The sudden loss of
containment of gas at the moment of its failure, can be accompanied by vessel fragmentation/1/. In this
context, the valve is represented by a vessel. The following equations are used to estimate the gas
volume for a given input data.

Fragment velocity can be estimated using the following:

……………………………………..(1)

Where:

= the initial fragment velocity (m/s)

= kinetic energy (J)

= total mass of the empty vessel (kg)

The Kinetic Energy ( ) is calculated from the internal energy E, note this is a conservative assumption.
The internal energy can be calculated using the following relation:

…………………….(2)

Where:

= absolute pressure in vessel at failure

= ambient pressure

V = internal volume of vessel

= ratio of specific heat


Substitute (2) in (1) we obtain the volume:

………………..(3)
Equation #3 can be used to evaluate the volume of the gas as function of the operating/testing pressure.
Note that the initial fragment velocity is assumed to be 800m/s which represent the velocity of fragment
that the Bunker blocks can withstand.

3 CALCULATION PROCEDURE
The calculation procedure follows the steps below:

1- First step is to assume a size of the valve. Based on the proposed calculation, this will be the
diameter and the length of a cylinder.

2- Estimate the thickness of the valve in order to evaluate the mass of the valve. This can be
evaluated based on ASME standard, where the thickness is a function of internal pressure. Also
the thickness can be used as a single value.

3- The fragment initial velocity is assumed to be the maximum allowed speed based on the
technical specification for the bunker blocks (800m/s).

4 RESULTS

Test case 1
In the absence of the specific details of the valves to be used, our example of the valve is assumed to be
made of steel.

The input data was used:

- Radius :0.25m

- Length/height of the cylinder: 0.7m

- Gamma: 1.2

- Density: 7900kg/m3

- Thickness: using Thin wall pressure vessels ASME Equation for High Alloy steel SA-182(t<=
65°C) we can get the thickness as function of internal pressure. For pressure of 100bar, the wall
thickness is 0.019m

Using these inputs in equation number 3. The gas volume that can be tested is 1.06m3

Test case 2
Using the same input as per test case 1, with different pressure. i.e., 5bar. The volume that can be
tested safely is 26.32m3

The results for the max gas volumes as function of the operating pressure are given in Figure 1. Note
that these results are based on the assumptions considered in this study (i.e. material type, density and
the wall thickness…etc.)
Max Gas Volume Vs Pressure
30
26.32

25
Max Gas Volume, m^3

20

15
11.68

10
5.53
5 2.69
1.33 1.06

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Pressure, bar

Figure 1: Maximum tested gas volume vs operating pressure.

5 REFERENCES
1 Chapter 6- Guideline for evaluating the characteristic of Vapor Cloud Explosion, Flash Fire, and
BLEVES. Center for Chemical Process Safety. Published Online: 28 SEP 2010. DOI:
10.1002/9780470938157.ch6. Copyright © 1994 –

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