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2 Overview ..............................................................................................................3
Overview.........................................................................................................3
Data Requirements...........................................................................................4
Pipe Segment Data.................................................................................4
Relief Source Data..................................................................................5
System Design Constraints......................................................................6
Starting FLARENET ...........................................................................................7
Starting a New Model........................................................................................9
Saving the Model ........................................................................................... 11
Building the Pipe Network ............................................................................... 13
Defining the Scenarios .................................................................................... 22
Defining the Sources ...................................................................................... 26
Rating the Network ........................................................................................ 33
Printing Data and Results ................................................................................ 35
iv Contents
1 Introduction
Audience
This guide is intended for process and process systems engineers.
Related Documentation
Title Content
FLARENET Reference Manual Reference Manual for Using FLARENET
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1 Introduction 1
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2 1 Introduction
2 Overview
Overview
This Getting Started tutorial shows the fundamental principles involved in
using FLARENET to design and rate a new flare system. This "guided tour" will
expose you to most of the major features of FLARENET.
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the use of Windows and have
some prior experience in the design of flare systems.
This example consists of the following main parts:
1 Building The Pipe Network - Pipes and nodes will be added using either
the PFD or the Manager views.
2 Defining the Scenarios - Different scenarios will be set up to simulate
various process conditions.
3 Defining The Sources - Relieving sources will be added to each scenario.
4 Sizing the Network - Finally, the pipe network will be simulated and
results will be viewed both in textual and graphical form.
2 Overview 3
Data Requirements
Before you can start to build a computer model of the flare header system,
you must first define all the data that will determine your system.
The following diagram shows the connectivity of the system that you will be
designing in this example.
Fig 1.1
4 2 Overview
The piping in the network diagram is detailed in the following table:
The flare tip is not a pipe segment, but rather a node that represents a zero
length piece of pipe with defined fittings loss coefficients. Since the internal
diameter is not specified it will assume the same diameter as the upstream
pipe segment. Fittings loss coefficients for the flare tip exclude pipe
enlargement and junction losses for the connect to the upstream pipe which
will automatically be calculated.
Data Description
Flow and These may vary for each scenario that you are evaluating. If a
Composition relief source is not used in a particular scenario the flow may
be set to zero. The Flow refers to the quantity of fluid that the
source valve must pass as a consequence of the plant upset
condition. The Rated Flow refers to the quantity of fluid that
the source valve will pass due to its physical construction.
Rated flow must always be greater than or equal to flow.
Maximum Allowable This is the maximum pressure that can exist at the outlet of
Back Pressure the device (source) without affecting its capacity.
(MABP)
Downstream This temperature is used as the pressure independent
temperature temperature at which the source enters the network. This
temperature is used when ideal gas enthalpies are used to
calculate the heat balance, or as an initial guess when any
other enthalpy method is used.
Upstream pressure These are only used if Ideal Gas enthalpies are not used for
and temperature the heat balance. These may vary for each scenario that you
are evaluating. With relief valves, the flowing pressure should
be used.
Discharge flange This will normally be determined from the relief valve sizing
size calculations. If this value is unknown then the field should be
left empty to ignore the pressure change from the valve to
the downstream pipe due to the swage.
In this example, you will consider three scenarios that represent one fire case
and two single blocked discharge cases. The following tables define the source
data for each scenario.
2 Overview 5
Default Source Data
6 2 Overview
Starting FLARENET
The installation process creates a short-cut to FLARENET in the Start menu
under Programs...Hyprotech. To Start FLARENET,
1 Select the Start menu.
2 Select Programs-Hyprotech-FLARENET 3.51-FLARENET 3.51.
Fig 1.2
2 Overview 7
Fig 1.3
The view in Figure 1.3 has been resized; your Desktop view should appear
larger than this when initially opened. To re-size the view, click and drag
the outside border. To make the view full size, click the Maximise icon in
the upper right corner.
Before setting up the Getting Started case, you should choose the
FLARENET unit set for displaying information. You can check your current
unit set by accessing the Preferences Editor:
5 Select File-Preferences and the Preferences Editor view will open.
Fig 1.4
6 The current unit set is shown in the Units drop-down list. The FLARENET
default is Metric, which will be used for this example.
8 2 Overview
Fig 1.5
7 Confirm that the Edit Objects on Add checkbox is active (checked). This
option will open the object editor view each time a new object is added.
8 Click the OK button to close the Preferences Editor view.
3 Enter the appropriate data (as shown in Figure 1.6) into the User Name,
Job Code, Project, and Description fields, and then click the OK button.
The Component Manager view then appears.
2 Overview 9
Fig 1.7
The Selected list is There are number of ways to select components for your simulation. One
empty, indicating that method is to filter the database for a certain component type. In this
no components have model, we will be using the following components: Methane, Ethane and
Propane.
yet been installed in
the case.
To add methane using the filter option:
1 Ensure that the HC checkbox in the Component Types group is
activated.
2 Start typing methane in the Selection Filter field. Notice that as you
are typing, the Database list will be filtered out to show only the
matching components.
3 Double click Methane in the Database list. Methane will now have
Initially, all the been selected and will be shown in the Selected list.
checkboxes in the
Component Types Fig 1.8
group are active.
You can deactivate
them by clicking
the Invert button.
10 2 Overview
4 Repeat the previous step with Ethane and Propane. As an alternative
Notice that now all
method, you may scroll through the Database list until you see the
the required
components are
desired component. Highlight the component by single clicking on it and
shown in the then click Add to place it in the Selected Components list.
Selected This Component Manager view will now appear as follows:
Components list,
indicating that they Fig 1.9
have been installed
in the case.
5 Click OK to close the Component Manager view and accept the list of
components.
6 Open the View menu and then the Data sub-menu. Select Components
from the sub-menu. The Components data view will be displayed:
Fig 1.10
2 Overview 11
Fig 1.11
After selecting an appropriate disk drive and directory in the Save in drop-
down menu, enter the name of the file to which you want to save the case in
the File name field.
Note: You do not need to include the .fnw extension; FLARENET will
add it automatically.
Click Save to close the view and save the file.
12 2 Overview
Building the Pipe Network
Since all scenarios have a common pipe network, you should first build the
pipe network model via the PFD.
Click the Open PFD View icon on the toolbar. The PFD view will be displayed
Before proceeding with its own toolbar.
any further, make
sure that the Edit
Fig 1.12
Objects on Add
checkbox on the
General tab of the
Preferences Editor
view is checked.
At this point the view should be blank, since we have not added a single
object yet.
The desired objects can be added by using either of the following methods:
Clicking the Toggle Palette Display icon on the PFD view or pressing the
F4 key will open the Toolbox view, which displays all the objects available
in FLARENET. You can add an object by clicking on it
Fig 1.13
2 Overview 13
Objects can also be added via the Pipe Manager and the Node Manager
views. These are accessible through Pipes... and Nodes... in the Build
menu, respectively.
For the Flare Tip, click the Flare Tip icon on the Toolbox view. Since the Edit
Objects on Add checkbox is selected, The Flare Tip Editor view will be
displayed:
Fig 1.14
By default the Flare Tip has been named as 1, which can be changed to a
more appropriate name as follows:
1 Click in the Name field on the Flare Tip Editor view.
The fittings loss 2 Delete the default name and type Flare Tip as the new name.
coefficient basis Since this example is of smaller size, the Location field will be left blank.
should be set to This field is only useful for larger cases with multiple sections (areas)
Total Pressure to
within a same plant. Now you need to specify the pipe, which will be
indicate that the
loss coefficient simulated as a flare stack, and it is attached to the Tip.
we are defining 3 Enter the name Stack in the Inlet field.
will calculate the 4 In the At drop-down list, select Downstream as the pipe end connected
pressure loss in
to the Tip.
the flare tip
including the In order to complete the Flare Tip Editor view, you need to specify the
velocity pressure Diameter and the Fitting Loss values on the Calculations tab.
loss.
5 On the Calculations tab, enter 876.3 as the diameter and 3 as the fitting
loss in the appropriate fields.
14 2 Overview
Fig 1.15
The default
Now you have provided all the necessary information about the Tip.
methods, as
defined in the 6 Click OK to close the view.
Calculation Options
Notice that two new objects have been added to the PFD view. These may
Editor view, should
be Isothermal
be drawn one on top of the other so you should either manually arrange
Vapor Pressure them by clicking and dragging the object icons or let FLARENET auto-
Drop, and arrange the icons by selecting View-PFD-Regenerate.
Compressible Gas 7 Open the Stack property view and move to the Dimensions tab.
VLE.
8 Specify the Length as 100 m and the Elevation Change as 100 m.
This will result in a vertical pipe measuring 100 m tall.
9 Select the Nominal Diameter as 36 inch and the Pipe Schedule as 40.
2 Overview 15
Fig 1.16
10 On the Methods tab, confirm that Vertical Pipe and VLE Method are set
as default models.
In this example, every pipe segment uses the default models which are
specified on the Methods tab of the Calculation Options Editor view.
11 Click OK to close the Stack property view.
Now you need to add another pipe segment which will be added using the
Pipe Manager view.
12 Select Build-Pipes from the menu bar. The Pipe Manager view will be
displayed.
Fig 1.17
16 2 Overview
Fig 1.18
2 Overview 17
Fig 1.19
Notice that by default the Theta has a value of 90 deg and the Fitting Loss
Method is set as Calculated. These and the other entries may be left at
their default values for this example.
23 Click the OK button to close the Connector Editor view.
Now, a tee will be added, using the Node Manager, to combine the flow
from the two sources.
24 Select Build-Nodes. The Node Manager view will be displayed.
18 2 Overview
Fig 1.21
25 Click the Add button and Select Tee from the pop up list.
The Tee Editor will be displayed.
Fig 1.22
2 Overview 19
Fig 1.23
Note: Setting the tailpipe option to Yes will cause the pressure
drop to be calculated using the rated flows rather than the
actual flow. For this pipe which is a tail pipe to a control valve
source, the rated flow and actual flow will be the same so the
setting of this option will have no effect.
20 2 Overview
Fig 1.24
2 Overview 21
43 Close the Pipe Manager view by clicking the OK button.
You can also open Select Data-Pipes from the View menu on the menu bar. The Pipes view
the Pipes view by displays the data for all of the pipe segments:
clicking the Open
Fig 1.26
Pipe Tabular View
icon.
You could also check the PFD to ensure that the proper connections have
been made. A portion of the PFD is displayed below:
Fig 1.27
22 2 Overview
Fig 1.28
3 The Scenario Editor view will be displayed. Alternatively, you could select
Default Scenario in the Scenario list then click Edit.
Update the header Mach number limit on the Constraints page for the
4 Default Scenario scenario as shown in Figure 1.30, then click OK to
close the Edit Scenario view and return to the Scenario Manager.
2 Overview 23
Fig 1.30
Now we should add the data for the Source 1 Only scenario.
4 Click Add on the Scenario Manager. The Clone Scenario From view will
be displayed.
Fig 1.31
5 Select the only entry in the view, i.e. Default Scenario scenario.
6 Change the default name to Source 1 Only and enter the data for the
Source 1 Only scenario as shown in Figure 1.32.
24 2 Overview
Fig 1.32
7 To add a new scenario click Next on the Scenario Editor and select the
Source 1 Only scenario from the Clone Scenario From view.
8 Change the default name for the new scenario to Source 2 Only.
Fig 1.33
9 Enter the data for the new scenario as shown in Figure 1.34.
2 Overview 25
Fig 1.34
10 Click OK to close the Scenario Editor view and return to the Scenario
Manager, then click OK to close the Scenario Manager.
26 2 Overview
Ensure that Mol. Wt. is selected in the Composition Basis drop-down
list on the Defaults tab.
Fig 1.36
2 Overview 27
Fig 1.37
You can now add the data corresponding to this scenario for each source.
4 Select Nodes from the Build menu on the main menu bar (ALT B N). The
Node Manager view will be displayed:
Fig 1.38
5 Click Add and select Control Valve from the pop up list.
28 2 Overview
Fig 1.39
6 Change the default name to Source 1. Select Tail Pipe 1 in the Outlet
drop-down list and set connection to be at Upstream (of Tail Pipe 1).
2 Overview 29
Fig 1.41
7 Move to the Conditions tab and set the Mass Flow as 100000 kg/hr. In
this example, the inlet pressure and temperatures are the same as the
default values but this will not normally be the case.
Fig 1.42
8 On the Composition tab, specify the Mol. Wt. to be 20. Once you have
entered the Mol. Wt. and tabbed to the next field you will notice the
composition will be calculated to give the required Mol. Wt.
30 2 Overview
Fig 1.43
9 Click Next to add a new source. The node pop up list will again be
displayed.
10 Select Relief Valve from the pop up menu and the Relief Valve view will
be displayed.
11 Name the new source as Source 2 on the Connections tab.
12 Select Tail Pipe 2 in the Outlet drop-down list and set connection to be
at Upstream (of Tail Pipe 2).
Fig 1.44
13 On the Conditions tab, check that the relief valve set pressure or MAWP
is set to the default value of 10 bar which is correct for this source. Select
the Auto checkbox next to the Relieving pressure field. This tells
FLARENET to calculate the relieving pressure from the MAWP and the
selected Contingency, which should be left as Operating in this case.
Check that the relieving pressure is calculated as 10.89 bar.
14 Still on the Conditions tab, check that the MABP is set to 5.0 bar. Then
enter the required mass flow rate for this source of 100000 kg/ hr. Select
the Auto checkbox next to the Rated flow field. This tells FLARENET to
2 Overview 31
calculate the rated flow for the valve from the specified fluid conditions
and properties, valve type and orifice area.
15 Still on the Conditions tab, use the drop-down list next to the Orifice
area field to select orifice code T. Check that the orifice area is updated to
16774 mm2 and notice the rated flow calculation is updated to reflect the
increased orifice area.
16 On the Composition tab specify the molecular weight of the fluid to be
25. When you tab away from this field, FLARENET will calculate the
composition of the fluid from the mole weight. Click back on the
Conditions tab to confirm that the Rated flow calculation has been
updated to give a rated flow of 109,405 kg/hr.
Fig 1.45
32 2 Overview
Fig 1.47
You must now add the source data for the other two scenarios.
20 Select the Source 1 Only scenario from the Scenario Selector drop-
down list on the toolbar (to the right of the icons). Any open data views
will now display data for this scenario.
21 Make the following changes to the flowrates in the Source 1 Only
Scenario (all other information remains the same):
Source 1 - 100000 kg/hr
Source 2 - 0 kg/hr
Finally reselect the Default Scenario from the Scenario Selector.
22 Next, select the Source 2 Only scenario from the Scenario Selector
drop-down list on the tool bar (to the right of the icons) and make the
following changes to the Source 2 Only:
Source 1 - 0 kg/hr
Source 2 - 100000 kg/hr
Finally reselect the Default Scenario from the Scenario Selector.
2 Overview 33
Fig 1.48
2 For this example we are going to use the default methods and settings
defined when FLARENET creates a new model. This includes the following
key options:
On the General tab, Calculation Mode should be set to Rating, Enable
heat Transfer checkbox should be cleared, Include Kinetic Energy
checkbox should be cleared.
On the Scenarios tab, Calculate should be set to All Scenarios.
On the Methods tab, the VLE Method should be set to Compressible
Gas, the Enthalpy Method to Ideal Gas and all pressure drop methods
to Isothermal Gas.
You can now start the calculations.
3 Select Calculate from the Calculation menu on the menu bar (ALT C C or
CTRL R). Alternatively, you could click the Calculate icon.
Fig 1.49
Once the calculations are complete you can review the results.
4 Select Results-Messages from the View menu on the menu bar.
The Messages data view will be displayed.
34 2 Overview
Fig 1.50
The Problems tab
lists two mach
number violations.
These problems can
be fixed by doing
design calculations
for the network but
for this example we
will ignore the
problem.
The above view contains general information and warning messages
regarding the calculations.
5 Select Source 1 Only from the Scenario selector.
6 Click Pressure/Flow Summary icon on the toolbar.
The Pressure/Flow Summary view will be displayed:
Fig 1.51
With the Pressure/Flow Summary view open, select each scenario in turn
using the Scenario selector on the toolbar.
2 Overview 35
3 Developing the Model
Overview
In this Getting Started tutorial you will change the network designed in
Getting Started to model the tie-in of two new control valves into our current
system. The modified system will be simulated for two new scenarios, one
each for the new sources.
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the use of Windows and have
This tutorial is a some prior experience in the design of flare systems.
continuation of the
one in Getting This example consists of the following main parts:
Started and 1 Building The Pipe Network - Pipes and nodes will be added using either
requires that you the PFD or the Manager views.
complete that
tutorial before 2 Defining the Scenarios - Different scenarios will be set up to simulate
continuing with this various process conditions.
one. 3 Defining The Sources - Relieving sources will be added to each scenario.
4 Sizing the Network - Finally, the pipe network will be simulated and
results will be viewed both in textual and graphical form.
Data Requirements
Before you can start to upgrade a computer model of the existing flare header
system, you must first define all the data that will determine your system.
The following diagram shows the connectivity of the system which includes
the new sources you will be adding in this example.
Fig 2.1
The pipe segments in the network diagram are detailed in the following table.
The new pipe segments Header 1, Header 2, Tail Pipe 3 and Tail Pipe 4 will be
added.
Data Description
Flow and These may vary for each scenario that you are evaluating.
Composition If a relief source is not used in a particular scenario the flow
may be set to zero. The Flow refers to the quantity of fluid
that the source valve must pass as a consequence of the
plant upset condition. The Rated Flow refers to the quantity
of fluid that the source valve will pass due to its physical
construction. Rated flow must always be greater than or
equal to flow.
Maximum Allowable This is the maximum pressure that can exist at the outlet of
Back Pressure the device (source) without affecting its capacity.
(MABP)
Downstream This temperature is used as the pressure independent
Temperature temperature at which the source enters the network. This
temperature is used when ideal gas enthalpies are used to
calculate the heat balance, or as an initial guess when any
other enthalpy method is used.
Upstream Pressure These are only used if the Ideal Gas enthalpies are not used
and Temperature for the heat balance. These may vary for each scenario that
you are evaluating. With relief valves, the flowing pressure
should be used.
Discharge Flange This will normally be determined from the relief valve sizing
Size calculations.
In this example, you will consider five scenarios that represent one fire case
and four single blocked discharge cases. The following tables define the
source data for each scenario.
The discharge flange size values are left undefined. In this case they are
assumed to have the same diameter as the attached pipes
At this point you might want to rearrange the new items on the PFD
manually or use the View-PFD-Regenerate menu option to redraw the
PFD automatically. The PFD should be similar to that displayed in Figure
2.13:
Fig 2.13
2 Click Add on the Scenario Manager. The Clone Scenario From view will
be displayed.
Fig 2.15
5 To add a new scenario click Next on the Scenario Editor and select the
Source 3 Only scenario from the Clone Scenario From view.
6 Change the default name for the new scenario to Source 4 Only.
Fig 2.17
7 Enter the data for the new scenario as shown in Figure 2.16.
8 Click OK to close the Scenario Editor view and return to the Scenario
Manager. Now select Default Scenario and click the Current button to
make this the working scenario. Click OK to close the Scenario Manager.
2 Click Add and select Control Valve from the pop up list.
Fig 2.19
3 Change the default name to Source 3. Select Tail Pipe 3 in the Outlet
drop-down list and set connection to be at Upstream (of Tail Pipe 3).
6 Click Next to add a new source. The node pop up list will again be
displayed.
7 Again select Control Valve and the Control Valve Editor view will be
displayed.
8 Name the new source as Source 4.
9 Select Tail Pipe 4 in the Outlet drop-down list and set connection to be
at Upstream (of Tail Pipe 4).
10 Repeat 5-7 to add all the information required by the scenario. Specify
Mole Wt. to be 35 on the Composition tab.
11 Click the OK button to close the Control Valve Editor view.
The Node Manager view will now appear as follows:
Fig 2.24
14 You must now add the source data for the other four scenarios.
For each scenario, ensure that the sources which have a flowrate of zero are
ignored (i.e. select the Ignore checkbox for the source).
Once the calculations are complete you can review the results.
5 Select Results-Problems from the View menu on the menu bar. The
Messages data view will be displayed.
Fig 2.28
3 Open the Results - Messages view from the View menu and then select
the Sizing tab to see a list of the changes that FLARENET has made to the
network. In this case it has increased the size of Tailpipe 3 from 12 inch
to 14 inch.
You can also access 4 Select Results - Pressure/Flow Summary from the View menu on
the Pressure/Flow
the menu bar.
Summary view by
clicking the Open The Pressure/Flow Summary view will be displayed:
Pressure/Flow
Summary icon. Fig 2.30
Notice that the upstream and downstream mach numbers are now within
the design specification for the given scenario. You can use the bottom
scroll bar to move across the columns.
We now have a flare system that is designed correctly for the Default
Scenario where all sources are relieving but we have not yet checked
that it is adequate for all of the scenarios. To do this we will do a Rating
calculation for all of the scenarios.
5 Open the Calculation Options view and set the Calculation Mode to
Rating on the General tab. On the Scenarios tab, set the Calculate
option to All Scenarios. After closing the Calculation Options view,
click the Start Calculation icon to run the rating check.
The reason for this is that the lower back pressure in the system when only a
single source is relieving means that the gas density is reduced resulting in
higher velocities.
7 To fix this problem with our design we will re-run the Debottleneck
calculations for all the scenarios. Use the Calculation Mode selector on
the main toolbar to change the calculation mode to Debottleneck and
then click the Calculate icon.
8 When complete, review the Problems tab of the Messages view to
confirm that the flare system now meets all our design limits in all
scenarios. The Sizing tab will show which pipe sizes have been
increased.
Fig 2.32