PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures

March, 2010

Abdulrahman Alkhowaiter, Consulting Engineer, Saudi Aramco, CSD-Tel-03-876-0122

GOULDS

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 PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
March, 2010

The P-011 A, B pumps at PetroRabigh facilities are 1200 HP Gould’s pumps in VGO residual oil service.
The pumps were purchased to API-610 8th edition and 31-SAMSS-004 Saudi Aramco standard. They are
of single stage, double suction, operating at 1800 rpm, with pumped liquid maximum temperature at
360 Deg.c, and discharge pressure of 350 psig. The two pumps are of 100% capacity each, with one
motor driven unit, and the other a steam turbine driven unit. The pumps started full operation in
February 2009, and so far have had three pump thrust bearing failures (three failures on P-011A), and
mechanical seal failures of two to three failures on each unit. The purpose of this report is to identify
all root causes of the recent and past failures on these two pumps. In addition, direct solutions are
given to eradicate the root causes. Some of these solutions are design modifications, some are
instrumentation setting changes, and others are improved monitoring.

Thrust Bearing Failures on the P-011A Pump:

The thrust bearings are Kingsbury type tilting pad bearings. The P-011A turbine driven unit has had three thrust
bearing failures so far. One thrust failure has been directly linked to a major water contamination of the lube oil
system in the turbine driven unit caused by an installation error in the carbon seals steam leak off piping. This

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has been corrected. A second failure occurred but its root cause was not determined fully. The third thrust
bearing failure occurred in March-2010. Our analysis of this third failure points to the following root cause:

1. Startup of the P-011A auxiliary lube oil pump showed correct feed to the radial bearings, but zero flow
to the thrust bearing. This proved that a blockage was in the inlet line or bearing housing orifices. We
found the orifices clean but a rag was stuck inside the 0.75 inch feed pipe. The source of this rag is
either from the recent cleaning/flushing of the oil system, or from original commissioning.
2. For the second thrust failure possibilities, a look at the overall thrust bearing design in the NDE bearing
housing showed that there are two oil inlet orifices of only 3 mm diameter. This size orifice is not
recommended because it can plug easily due to debris in the lube oil. Another problem is that these
small size orifices are not the only orifices; there is a top outlet drain from the bearing housing and that
uses a 90 degree turn plus a ½ inch drain hole several inches long. This is an additional pressure drop
that resists proper oil flow. From my experience, the 3 mm orifice is only suitable for ISO-VG-32
lubrications oils which have lower viscosity, and thus less pressure drop through the bearing. In your
case, the pump uses ISO-VG-46 medium turbine oil of greater viscosity (150% higher). Therefore, the
optimum lubrication orifice is 4 mm diameter for this thrust bearing and will provide sufficient cooling
oil flow to the bearing, providing a long life. This modification required for both pumps.
3. The lube oil inlet hole bored into the bearing housing is supposed to be plugged with a stopper plug
bolt. This was not found. When the backplate of the bearing housing is bolted, this is supposed to seal
the hole, but this is not professional as internal leakage can occur. Therefore, fabricate two plugs and
install in both pumps NDE housings.

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 PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
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4. The pump vendor has made a mistake in not providing a shaft coupling pre-stretch gap on the P-011A
turbine driven unit, because both coupled machines have a thrust bearing in the NDE end. Therefore,
thermal growth of both shafts will oppose each other and cause a new thrust force toward the
bearings. This increases thrust loading. The motor driven pump unit P-011B does not need pre-stretch
because the motor has no thrust bearing. The desired pre-stretch gap at coupling is: Growth Into
coupling = Pump shaft growth + Turbine shaft Growth + Coupling Spacer Growth. Note: Pump shaft
Avg. temp is only 300 DEGF due to external parts of shafts. Turbine shaft average temperature is taken
as 200 DEGF. Also, due to casing thermal growth in opposite direction, actual pump/turbine shaft
growth into coupling is typically one half from experience.

Total Growth = Pump shaft length from thrust collar to hub x 0.5 x ∆T x Coefficient of expansion +
Turbine Shaft length x 0.5 x ∆T x coefficient of expansion + Coupling spacer length x ∆T x coefficient of
expansion

Total Growth = 63 inch x 0.50 x 0.0000065 in/in DegF x (300 F- 80 F Ambient) + 40 Inch x (200 F-80F ) x
0.0000067 in/in F + 7.0 inch x 0.0000067 x (180 F- 80 F) = 0.065 inch. Recommend to use 0.050 inch gap
on P-011A. This is accomplished by moving one machine away from the other until the coupling gap =
coupling spacer length + pre-stretch gap of 0.050 inch.

5. The axial monitoring system did not provide sufficient protection as the thrust bearing was completely
wiped out. Also, we noticed that the thrust bearings are only protected by drain oil temperature
sensors which are a very poor indicator of pump bearing temperature. We recommend resetting of the
pump thrust bearing axial probes to the following:

Total Mechanical Float Required= 0.009 to 0.010 inch maximum, by shimming bearing.

Alarm axial setting = ½ x float + 10 mills= 15 mills

Shutdown setting = ½ x float + 15 mills = 20 mills

6. The lube oil sampling frequency is 6 months. This does not provide adequate protection of machinery
from contaminated oil damage. Change to a two month frequency.

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 PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
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Mechanical seal failures on both pumps & poor MTBF:

A failure analysis was performed on one of the failed Burgmann seals, and we found the following:

1. The seal design is API-682 plan 53B double seal with pressurized barrier fluid. The primary faces are
Silicon Carbide vs. Carbon face. The rotating sleeve has two static seals: A graphite carbon ring at inner
location, and FFKM O-ring Elastomer at the outer sleeve. The primary & secondary seal spring is a single
ply bellows type.
2. The primary bellows had an internal leak due to cracking. There was also a small leak from the sleeve
elastomeric O-ring, as this was found to have compression set due to the high pump temperatures; it
was no longer round, but was found with a square cross-section.
3. The primary rotating face was in excellent condition. The primary stationary carbon face was not
scratched, but was beginning to chip on its inner/outer edges after only two months in service. This
means that its face life would not have exceeded one year.
4. Based upon the above observations, we recommend the following: The mechanical seal life will continue
to be low, not exceeding 3 to 5 months maximum unless the following design changes are made:
1- Upgrade all stationary faces from Carbon to Silicon Carbide so that the face combination is SIC vs.
SIC. We have proven that this combination will provide in excess of five years MTBF when the liquid
sealed has lubricating properties, such as this service, both buffer fluid and the pumped fluid. See
attached book section on this.
2- Upgrade the primary/secondary seal bellows to double bellows design, preferably of Inconel-625
alloy which has proven long life in such services.
3- Request manufacturer to upgrade existing FFKM Elastomer on sleeve to a higher temperature type
with at least 50 DegF higher temperature range.
5. After the recent startup in March-2010, the P-011B pump experienced some loss of barrier fluid into the
pump. A study of the mechanical seal drawing showed that large thermal growths are occurring to the
seal cartridge due to the 360 Deg.c pumped fluid. With such extreme temperatures, unusual leaks
happen. In this case, a loss of axial spring tension on the primary bellows spring is occurring, about 1 mm
maximum loss of spring tension on NDE. This leads to low primary face loading and subsequent buffer
fluid leakage through faces. Please see the attached drawing with thermal growth calculations on seal
unit. The recommendation for both pumps is to increase the existing seal sleeve S-dimension by 2 mm
to compensate for the thermal growth seal face compression force losses and transient pump
temperatures. Drill new dimples on shaft. Please note that the worst condition is when the pump fluid is
heated by process during startup cycle, while the shaft is colder because it has a lower temperature rate
response. The result is sudden axial expansion of pump casing, which makes the bellows lose tension
(colder shaft=shorter) leading to leakage of seals. After this, the seal leak rate should be significantly
reduced. A third reduction in bellows tension is due to casing barrel pressure expansion in axial
direction, but this is a small percentage.

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PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
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Seal Elements Thermal Expansion in Various Directions

Casing
Datum

Seal Flange 316 SS Thermal Growth Outward

Shaft
Datum

Shaft Sleeve 316 SS Thermal Growth Inward

DE Seal, Shaft Growth

NDE Seal, Shaft 410 SS Growth

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Thermal Growth Calculations of Seal Assembly

Non-Drive End Mechanical Seal Combined Thermal Growth leading to Primary Spring Relaxation:
Thermal Growth of 316 SS Seal Components = 0.0000095 in/in/DegF, Growth of 410 SS Shaft = 0.0000065 in/in/DegF

Pump Shaft Avg. temperature from thrust collar to NDE Seal= 200 DegF, Length of this shaft section = 18 inches appx.

Pump Fluid Temperature: 570 Deg F , Seal Flange Temp= 500 F, Seal Sleeve Temp = 500 F

Shaft thermal growth = 0.0000065 x 18.0 in x ½ (casing growth reduction) x (200 F- 80 F) = 0.007 inch. Positive

Seal Flange growth = 0.0000095 x 4.0 in (length) x (500 F – 80 F) = 0.016 inch Negative

Seal Sleeve Growth = 0.0000095 x 7.8 in (length) x (500 F – 80 F) = 0.031 inch Negative

Total Differential Growth= + 0.007 – 0.016 – 0.031 = - 0.040 inch = 1 mm reduction in spring tension

Conclusion: Add 2 mm extra spring tension to sleeve setting.

Drive End Mechanical Seal Combined Thermal Growth leading to Primary Spring Relaxation:
Thermal Growth of 316 SS Seal Components = 0.0000095 in/in/DegF, Growth of 410 SS Shaft = 0.0000065 in/in/DegF

Pump Shaft Avg. temperature from thrust collar to DE Seal= 400 DegF, Length of this shaft section = 40 inches appx.

Pump Fluid Tem. = 570 Deg F , Seal Flange Temp= 500 F, Seal Sleeve Temp= 500 F

Shaft thermal growth = 0.0000065 x 40 in x ½ (casing growth reduction) x (400 F- 80 F) = 0.042 inch. Positive

Seal Flange growth = 0.0000095 x 4.0 in (length) x (500 F – 80 F) = 0.016 inch Negative

Seal Sleeve Growth = 0.0000095 x 7.8 in (length) x (500 F – 80 F) = 0.031 inch Negative

Total Differential Growth = + 0.042 – 0.016 – 0.031 = - 0.005 inch = 0.12 mm reduction in spring tension

Conclusion: Add 2 mm minimum extra spring tension to sleeve setting. Note that the DE seal is subjected to least

thermal growth problems..

Spring Metal Bellows Tension Relaxation : The primary seal springs also experience a reduction in
spring constant (k) due to thermal growth from 80 Deg F Ambient, to 500 Deg F actual operating
temperature. Therefore, the spring force acting on M. Seal faces is also reduced. Note that the bellows is
not a hardened steel spring, so it is relatively soft. This is why its recommended to increase the spring

tension by 2 mm overall for both seals.

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 PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
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Temperature recordings for pump P-011B by Laser Gun

Seal flange inboard taken at 4 points 172°C

175C 156°C

126°C

Seal flange outboard taken at 4 points 166°C

215°C 222°C

159°C

Case inboard 251°C

315°C 305°C

310°C

Case outboard 226°C

191°C 183.9°C

217°C

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PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
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PetroRabigh P-011 A, B Pump Failures
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