77

Fiberglass

Fire Water System on a LNG Plant

Stress and Surge Analysis

Introduction

Stress Analysis

A stress and surge analysis has been performed for the firewater

The piping of the considered system is primarily buried and inclu-

piping system of a LNG Plant, located in South America. The system

des several connections to above ground fire hydrants and corres-

is constructed using Glassfiber Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) pipes. The

ponding equipment. System routing and pipe properties used for

largest and most critical unbalanced forces were used to perform a

the analysis are based on data provided by the client.

dynamic response analysis of the complete piping system.

The stresses are assessed conform ISO 14692, the standard for
GRE piping design. The software used to perform the stress analy-

Surge Analysis

sis is CAESAR II pipe stress software. This model incorporates the

The existing firewater plant contains two pump connections, a

unbalanced loads calculated using BOSfluids to perform the dyna-

fresh water and a seawater pump. During normal operation the

mic stress analysis, relevant for fatigue.

fresh water pump supplies the firewater, while the seawater pump
is used for backup in case of failure or when a large demand of
firewater is required.
A Transient flow analysis was performed using the software package BOSfluids. BOSfluids is a commercially available package that
has been developed by DRG to perform transient flow analysis. The

When performing a mechanical response

analysis, it is highly importance to identify
the most critical scenario resulting in the
largest unbalanced loads

pressure and flow distribution was calculated for steady state conditions as well as for four critical transient scenarios. These scena-

Results

rios include switching over from operating the fresh water pump

For given design conditions, several modifications were advised

to the seawater pump, the closing of all hydrants and monitors,

(with respect to the original design) to limit the static stresses

simulatuously opening of the LNG sprinklers (largest flow); and fi-

within the allowable envelopes, i.e. additional laminate reinforce-

nally the tripping of both fresh and seawater pump subsequently.

ments on top of the GRE wall thickness or application of flexible

These four scenarios were considered most important for the sys-

material. In addition to the static stress analysis, the unbalanced

tem in terms of generating the highest and lowest pressures pos-

loads were taken into account as a result of the pressure distribu-

sible and the largest unbalanaced loads.

tion of the transient flow in the system.

The maximum dynamic stresses were combined with the static
operational stresses and assessed against the ISO16492 long term
occasional envelope. It was found that none of the stresses were
greater than the occasional allowable.
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