High vibration levels at flare tip

High vibration levels at flare tip

poses safety risk and complex technical problem.





Client: SE Asian oil and gas company.

Tough Problem: High vibration levels on the flare tip caused the platform to vibrate, posing a risk to personnel and production.

As operations personnel advised that it was not possible to access the flare tip for field measurement - quantification of the vibration levels and determination of the frequency content in the piping and the platform (to enable a fatigue assessment) was complex.

Practical Solution: Extensive field measurements using a variety of instruments (vibration meters, sophisticated data acquisition system) were taken to quantify the vibration levels as seen on the platform and to determine the ODS.

Finite Element Analysis was performed to identify the mode shapes to determine stresses in the system for a fatigue assessment.

A Flow Induced Vibration (FIV) study was then conducted to identify whether the high flow rate through the flare pipe was the source of vibration. Steady state and transient Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis was then performed to understand the nature of the turbulent flow and the forces inside the piping. Fluid structure interaction capabilities enabled the study of stresses due to the turbulent flow of gas inside.

Bottom Line: Advanced numerical analysis helped to ensure the safety of personnel and continuity of production.