Simulating Error-Opening of Pressure Relief Valves of a Station on a Continuous Undulating Oil Pipeline with Large Elevation Difference

For oil pipeline in mountain areas,high hydrostatic pressure in the pipeline may cause error-opening of pressure relief valves,and oil is discharged from the pipeline to the pressure relief tanks,bringing spilling-over risk of the pressure relief tanks.Therefore,simulating the error-opening situations of the pressure relief valves and investigating the oil discharge process are necessary for checking the possibility of the spilling-over accident and then proposing measures to improve the pressure relief system.This research focuses on a continuous undulating oil pipeline with large elevation difference and a station along this pipeline,which is named B station in this paper,is studied.By OLGA software,simulation model of the pressure relief system of B station is established,and the accuracy of the model is verified by reconstructing a real accident and making a comparison with the actual accident data.The maximum discharge rate reached 8284 m3/h when the pressure relief valve was opened by mistake in the inlet and outlet of the station.The accumulated filling time of the two pressure relief tanks is 200 s,which is in good agreement with the accident data.On this basis,for error-opening of the pressure relief valves at the inlet and outlet of B station,simulation is performed to investigate variations of the discharge velocity,discharge flow rate,accumulated discharge volume and ventilation volume of the vent valve.The discharge velocity is found to be over the maximum velocity allowed for safety consideration.According to the accumulated discharge volume,it is inferred that spilling over of the pressure relief tanks will be caused once error-opening of the pressure relief valve occurs.Also it is judged that the existing breathing valve can not satisfy the ventilation requirement in case of failure of the pressure relief valves.From these simulation results,it is proposed that increasing the number of vent valves,replacing the manual valves with electrically operated valves,and employing security control interlock protection program are improvement measures to guarantee safe,efficient and reliable operation of the pressure relief system at B station.

连续起伏管道投产过程中的气相运移研究

为应对山区液体管道在投产过程中可能出现的气阻、超压问题,从气相运移角度出发,建立液顶气模型,研究在1个U型单元内积气形成、压缩和破碎的全过程,在此基础上,提出连接各个U型单元的气相的传递函数,探讨背压累积因素下,连续起伏管道投产过程中各个U型管段的积气情况和压力的变化,进行动态的建模和计算。以国内某原油管道的现场投产数据与模型结果进行比对。结果表明:可以更加准确地预测山区液体管道投产过程中的气相传递和压力变化过程,能为未来连续起伏大落差液体管道投产的安全稳定运行提供理论指导和技术支持。