SIZING TSV

[SilvFer]

Guys,

In this time I have a question about sizing a TSV.

We have a 3.5 km of pipeline of MGO (22" diameter), API 521 shows the use of a TSV of 3/4" x 1", but I dont think that´s a good idea. Anybody here who has had this kind of cases? or What would be the way to size the TSV in this case?

Please help me.

 

[SNORGY]

What is MGO? I'm not all that acronym-savvy, unfortunately. If the line is full of liquid that is LVP (Low Vapor Pressure) you might be just fine. Expansible or HVP (High Vapor Pressure), I would be concerned.

 

[EmmanuelTop]

MGO could refer to Marine Gas Oil but please confirm. If the case, you are talking about heavy, non-volatile hydrocarbon liquid for which the standard 3/4" x 1" TSV would be sufficient in 99% cases.

In order to determine whether this is enough for your pipeline, you have to calculate the heat rate (total heat input per unit of time) for the expansion scenario you are considering. Then you can use this heat rate in the TSV equation for determining flow rate, e.g. API 521 or

http://www.chemwork.org/PDF/papers/what you should know about liquid thermal_expansion.pdf

Calculating heat rate is the tricky part because the calculation procedure usually comes with a lot of assumptions which are hard to quantify in the real world.

If a fire is the cause of abnormal heat input, what is usually done is to employ some sort of CFD modeling tools in order to establish the fire effect zone and maximum heat input. There are also simplified algebraic models, e.g.

http://people.clarkson.edu/~wwilcox/Design/prelease.pdf

but these have quite a few underlying assumptions.



Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE