Buckling pin failure – The success of simulating plant data

Challenge

Our client was managing an offshore platform which was encountering problems following plant upgrades where safety release valves were being triggered by pressure fluctuations. They needed help to locate the causes of these pressure oscillations and prevent further site shutdowns.

The team worked to understand the plant system with our client and capture the flow behaviour across several pumps and control valves to monitor pressure variations at key locations. The plant was assessed using one-dimensional models to capture the pressure and flow rates using actual site data across a range of likely scenarios.

Our work

Outcome

We determined the cause of the plant shutdowns to be a control valve that was operating beyond its capacity. Our detailed assessment highlighted that following plant upgrades the large recycle flow of the main oil line pumps were the likely cause, allowing our client to increase the valve size and avoid pressure build up in the system and prevent future plant shutdowns.

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Buckling pin failure – The success of simulating plant data

Case Study

Buckling pin failure – The success of simulating plant data