Complex multiphase flows & strict environmental regulations present immense challenges in designing of processes and equipment in Oil & Gas Industry. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), it is possible to study separation of fluid & solid phases like oil, water, gases and suspended particles with reliable accuracy even at FEED design or equipment design stage. Further, CFD provides significant insight into Flow Induced Turbulence (FIT) and Flow Induced Vibration (FIV) that might be observed inside vessels, tanks and pipeline manifolds like slug catchers. These analyses can provide contractors, consultants, manufacturers and owners with important engineering insights which can be used for verification of existing designs and redesign of internals to achieve performance requirements.
Case Study : Oil-Water Separator Tank
Combustion and heat transfer can be modeled using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and has been used widely in optimization of gas and oil burners as well as pulverized coal furnaces. The numerical modeling of these furnaces are difficult due to the complexity of combustion process taking into account turbulent and reactive flow. Mechartés in co-operation with IIT-Delhi has successfully developed a CFD model which is especially designed for the development and optimization of boiler furnaces. Further, CFD Simulations provides proactive information about design and operational aspects of many other components of thermal power plants such as ducts, Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) & cyclone separators.
Heat Treatment of FEED & Produced Water using heat exchangers to improve separation performance is routinely employed in Oil & Gas refineries. With changing production patterns, the generic heat exchanging devices are redesigned for higher efficiencies. The thermal performance enhancement can lead to lower installation and operating costs in long run. Heat transfer modeling and numerical simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics has proved to be beneficial to our customers to perform realistic comparisons of existing design with improved designs.
Case Study: Heat Transfer Analysis
The ASME Section VIII vessels used in refining & chemical industry are generally perceived to be reliable & safe under most circumstances. However, today there is an ongoing need to reduce the capital and facility maintenance costs, including cost of pressure vessels and related piping and infrastructure. This results in reduced design safety factor and presents increased challenges to design engineers. Good Engineering judgment, in-depth understanding of ASME Section VIII and Finite Element based Pipe Stress Analysis coupled with Structural Analysis provides us an edge so that your designs maintain reasonable safety levels and also providing you with the most cost effective designs.
Case Study: Pipe Stress Analysis
Additional loads caused by structural movements resulting from rotary or reciprocating equipment and occasional loads caused by natural events like earthquake can cause severe and costly loss to oil and gas infrastructure. Vessels, Tanks & Piping infrastructure must therefore be designed to resist these vibration and seismic loads. We provide high end engineering services which can tackle the toughest vibration & seismic problems. With Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Software, we predict the modes of vibration (shapes and frequencies), the transient response subject to forcing frequencies, and the response of a system due to random excitation. Based on these analyses we provide practical design considerations which can suitably mitigate risks of structural failure.
Case Study: Vibration Analysis of Petroleum Pipeline
High pressure pulsations generated from reciprocating pumps or reciprocating compressors can cause a number of problems like vibration, fatigue failures, water hammer and reduction in efficiency. Pump or Compressor manufacturers along with the project contractors are required to meet guidelines established by API Standard 674 or API Standard 618. Integrated analysis of steady state pulsation produced by these reciprocating equipment and other sources of mechanical excitation is studied to determine the conformance of system with allowable pressure levels prescribed in API 674 & API 618. Practical design modification suggested using these analyses provide system reliability, minimized pressure drop and performance losses, faster turnaround in the design, optimized vessel sizes, and lower overall costs.
API 674 Case Study
