Turbulence Control
Reduction of pulsation, vibration and noise
through modification of piping
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IOUIOD yn
BY NATHAN W. POERNER, DUSTIN CASTLE AND VISHWAS IYENGAR, PHD
Iniroducton
i, emmy Devon Ena, maine separaon
Eee icssta tc ower spat
pundeiocees capresso sysiom hed ested fr an
extended ped fnew fetes pray ocuring
on the compressor seo sytem A gana ove
Mi Figure 1. System layout.
ity of the unit and a downstream cooler. Specific failures of
the unit itself included broken blades on the compressor
wheel, sheered difuser plate bolts, and diffuser plate dam-
‘age. Unit outage due to these failures occurred three times
in a 2.5-year period, with a mean time between failures of
less than a year.
‘The operating conditions of the unit are incoming pro-
duction stream gas entering the compressor at 600 psig
(4137 kPa gage) and exiting at approximately 750 psig
(5171 kPa gage). The gas then enters an expander at
725 psig (4999 kPa gage) after passing through an air
cooler — for condensation of the heavier liquids in the
‘Nathan W. Poorer is a research engineer at Southwest Research
Institute, Contact him at: nathan,poeiner@swr.org, Dustin Castle is
a maintenance superintendent for Enlink. Cent
ceastie@eniink.com. Vishuas yengar, PhD, is 2 reliabilly engineer,
hydto/suttur production, for Shell Oi! Products. Contact hin at
vishwas.ivengar@she
im ats eustin
46 OCTOBER 2016
hydrocarbon stream — and exits the expander at 150 psig
(1034 kPa gage) for further processing
Initial field-testing
Testing setup and conditions
After Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) was con-
tracted to aid in resolving the issues with the machinery,
key information was gathered in a field study performed
at the Bridgeport facility in Texas. Measurements were
also made on a similar installation at a second facility
(Northridge) in Oklahoma. Measurements made at both
facilities included vibration measurements, sound level
measurements and, where possible, pressure pulsation
measurements. These measurements were used in the
comparison of the two different facilities, and eventually
in comparison with computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
models for critical piping stretches.
Numerous vibration measurements were taken on and
around the compressor, with focus on both the suction
and discharge piping. The
points were taken primar-
ily at locations where any
internal pulsation energy
could couple with the me-
chanical system, such as
at elbows and other piping
bends where a change in
flow direction would occur.
For a number of these loca-
tions, however, the magnet-
ic probes being used were
walking, as illustrated in
Figure 2, which shows the
elbow just downstream of Ill Figure 2. Illustration of walk-
the compressor discharge, ing probes
This walking is typical-
ly caused by elevated vibrations of the pipe wall, which
usually occur at high frequencies. So it was evident even
before collection of the vibration data that high-trequency
vibrations were present in the system, In order to gather
some usable data at these locations, these probes were
fixed more securely to the piping through application of
continued on page 48
‘comp?
SSORtech*duct tape. This is not an ideal installation method: there-
fore resulting measurements must be interpreted carefully
and collaborated with alternate measurements if possible.
At nearly all the points where vibration measurements
were taken, near-field sound level measurements were also
recorded. This was done using a sound level meter (SLM)
set up in C-weighting mode and held at 2-3 in. (5-8 cm)
from the pipe wall to measure sound levels emanating from
the piping. The SLM was also used in A-weighting mode to
determine the noise level in the area of the compressor and
the coolers,
Finally, it was possible to take pressure pulsation mea:
surements at some available ports immediately upstream
and downstream of the compressor and also using the vent
ports in the cooler headers.
Operating conditions of the Bridgeport facility were able
to be altered by changing the speed of the unit. Therefore,
measurements were taken at a low speed (25,360 rpm), a
normal speed (26,770 rpm) and a high speed (27,100 rpm).
The Northridge facility was only able to run ata single speed
of 28,600 rpm
Comparison of measured data
‘Spectral data of the vibrations taken on the compressor
showed the primary frequency component was occurring at
7x running speed; which is coincident with the blade pass
frequency of the compressor. Pulsation measurements also
show a significant pressure pulsation at this frequency for
the higher operating speeds (Figure 3). The vibrations were
measured at the compressor, but highest vibrations were
measured in the discharge piping. in particular within the
first few piping bends.
——
evra ope
Ii gure 4 Sound evel meter eacings
unit was running at its normal operating speed, and the in-