IP probes safety of high pressure heat exchangers
15 Jan 2000
The Institute of Petroleum (IP) is overseeing a £319 000 joint industry research project into high pressure shell and tube heat exchangers. It will aim to validate methods used by oil and gas industries to quantify pressures and the consequences of tube rupture.
Many such heat exchangers are employed in the North Sea, where high pressure gas is either cooled or heated by sea water. The shell side is usually designed to withstand a pressure just above the operating pressure of the liquid. It is usually protected by either bursting discs or relief valves.
Hitherto, the ability of low pressure shells to withstand a release of gas through tube rupture has not been adequately shown. The study to be undertaken by the Health and Safety Laboratory at Buxton aims to validate the computer codes used to assess the safety of exchangers and establish greater confidence in their predictive capacity.
The Mechanical and Process Engineering Department of the University of Sheffield will carry out a complementary research project entitled `A Study of the Failure Criteria for Vessels under Transient Pressure Loadings', funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
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