Discussion: “Analysis of Pressure Pulsations in Reciprocating Compressor Piping Systems” (Grover, S. S., 1966, ASME J. Eng. Ind., 88, pp. 164–168)

1966 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-171
Author(s):  
Ralph James
Keyword(s):  
Reciprocating Compressor ◽  
Pressure Pulsations ◽  
Piping Systems

Analysis of Pressure Pulsations in Reciprocating Compressor Piping Systems

1966 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. Grover
Keyword(s):  
Field Test ◽  
Test Data ◽  
Piping System ◽  
Reciprocating Compressor ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Pressure Pulsations ◽  
System A ◽  
Piping Systems ◽  
Limiting Condition

This paper deals with pulsations in pressure and flow in the reciprocating compressor and connected piping system. A model is presented that describes the excitation at the compressor and the propagation of the pulsations in the interconnected piping. It has been adapted to digital computations to predict the pulse magnitudes in reciprocating compressor piping systems and to assess measures for their control. Predicted results have been compared with field test data and with simplified limiting condition results. A discussion of its practical application is included.

Attenuation of pulsations in the reciprocating compressor piping system with an elbow-shaped surge tank

2018 ◽  
Vol 233 (5) ◽  
pp. 1677-1689
Author(s):  
Quyang Ma ◽  
Guoan Yang ◽  
Mengjun Li
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Frequency Analysis ◽  
Transfer Matrix Method ◽  
Piping System ◽  
Pulsation Frequency ◽  
Reciprocating Compressor ◽  
Pressure Pulsations ◽  
Surge Tank ◽  
The Mathematical Model

An elbow-shaped surge tank is proposed to suppress the pressure pulsations. The transfer matrix method was developed and the mathematical model was established to predict the distribution of pressure pulsations in the piping system (on which a surge tank was already installed) with an elbow-shaped surge tank. Simulation work of the whole piping system was performed. The results show that the elbow-shaped surge tank has good performance to attenuate the pressure pulsations. The frequency analysis shows that the amplitude for the first pulsation frequency is attenuated to a low level. The impulse response was analyzed to examine the efficiency of suppressing pulsations by using the suppressor. The theoretical analysis showed that there exists the optimal suppression performance when setting the distance between the elbow-shaped surge tank and the existing one. Meanwhile, modifying the ratio of length to diameter with a fixed surge volume could also impact the pressure pulsations. The analysis results can be used as a reference in designing and installing the elbow-shaped surge tank.

Transient Pressure Loss in Compressor Station Piping Systems

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Brun ◽  
Marybeth Nored ◽  
Dennis Tweten ◽  
Rainer Kurz
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Loss ◽  
Dynamic Pressure ◽  
Piping System ◽  
Flow Profile ◽  
Fluid Models ◽  
Reciprocating Compressor ◽  
Fluid Structure Interactions ◽  
Fluid Structure ◽  
Pressure Losses ◽  
Piping Systems

“Dynamic pressure loss” is often used to describe the added loss associated with the time varying components of an unsteady flow through a piping system in centrifugal and reciprocating compressor stations. Conventionally, dynamic pressure losses are determined by assuming a periodically pulsating 1-D flow profile and calculating the transient pipe friction losses by multiplying a friction factor by the average flow dynamic pressure component. In reality, the dynamic pressure loss is more complex and is not a single component but consists of several different physical effects, which are affected by the piping arrangement, structural supports, piping diameter, and the level of unsteadiness in the flow stream. The pressure losses due to fluid-structure interactions represent one of these physical loss mechanisms and are presently the most misrepresented loss term. The dynamic pressure losses, dominated at times by the fluid-structure interactions, have not been previously quantified for transient flows in compressor piping systems. A number of experiments were performed by SwRI utilizing an instrumented piping system in a compressor closed loop facility to determine this loss component. Steady and dynamic pressure transducers and on-pipe accelerometers were utilized to study the dynamic pressure loss. This paper describes findings from reciprocating compressor experiments and the various fluid modeling studies undertaken for the same piping system. The objective of the research was to quantitatively assess the individual pressure loss components which contribute to dynamic pressure (non-steady) loss based on their physical basis as described by the momentum equation. Results from these experiments were compared to steady state and dynamic pressure loss predictions from 1-D and 3-D fluid models (utilizing both steady and transient flow conditions to quantify the associated loss terms). Comparisons between the fluid model predictions and experiments revealed that pressure losses associated with the piping fluid-structure interactions can be significant and may be unaccounted for by advanced 3-D fluid models. These fluid-to-structure losses should not be ignored when predicting dynamic pressure loss. The results also indicated the ability of an advanced 1-D Navier Stokes solution at predicting inertial momentum losses. Correspondingly, the three-dimensional fluid models were able to capture boundary layer losses affected by 3-D geometries.

Pulsation suppression in a reciprocating compressor piping system using a two-tank element

2017 ◽  
Vol 232 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quyang Ma ◽  
Zhenhuan Wu ◽  
Guoan Yang ◽  
Yue Ming ◽  
Zheng Xu
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Damping Coefficient ◽  
Piping System ◽  
Pressure Pulsations ◽  
Surge Tank ◽  
Piping Systems ◽  
Gas Pulsations

Gas pulsations excited by reciprocating compressors could introduce severe vibrations and noise in piping systems. When pulsating gas flows through the reducers, the changes in flow characteristics, such as velocity and damping coefficient, will affect the pressure pulsations. To circumvent these constraints, a two-tank element is introduced to control the gas pulsation that is still strong in the piping system with a surge tank. Installing another surge tank to form a two-tank element is more flexible and costs lower than replacing the original surge tank with a larger one. In this work, a theoretical model based on the wave theory was proposed to study the transferring mechanism of gas pulsations in the pipeline with the two-tank element. By considering the damping coefficient and the Mach number, the distributions of the pressure pulsations were predicted by the theoretical model and agreed with the three-dimensional fluid dynamics transient analysis. Three experiments were conducted to prove that the suppression capability of the two-tank element is as good as that of a single-tank element (surge tank) with the same surge volume. The volume optimization of the two-tank element is implemented by selecting the best allocations of the two tanks’ volumes to achieve larger reductions of pressure pulsations. Assuming that the total surge volume is constant, we found that the smaller the volume of the front tank (near the cylinder) is, the lower the pulsation levels are. The optimized result proves that in some conditions the two-tank element could control pulsations better than the single-tank element with the same surge volume.

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