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Comparative Evaluation of
Natural Gas Pipeline Simulators
Farzad Abdolahi Demneh, Ali Mesbah, Amirhadi Jaberi
Predictions of gas temperature and pressure profiles are essential for the design and operation
of natural gas transmission pipelines. In the wake of vast developments of simulation tools in
the past decade, gas pipeline simulators are being increasingly utilized for reliable and quick
calculations of the volume of natural gas to be transmitted in relation to many factors such
as the length and the size of the pipeline, the operating temperature and pressure profiles,
the elevation change over the route, etc. The underlying numerical solution methods of such
pipeline simulators largely alleviate the need for most of the simplifying assumptions and/or
approximations of the analytical equations that often render an inadequate representation
of gas flow in the transmission lines.
T
his study provides a comparative performance assumed to be 3.45 Btu.h-1.ft-2.F-1 along the pipeline.
analysis of a number of commercial software Specifications of the simulated pipeline and the inlet
packages, namely PIPESIM, PIPESYS (Ver. 2.01), flow conditions are given in Table 1. The simulation
PIPEPHASE (Ver. 7.3) and ASPEN HYSYS (Ver. results of all the aforementioned simulators have been
2004), that are widely used for the simulation of natural gas presented in Figures 1 and 2. As can be inferred from
transmission pipelines. The simulation results presented in pressure profiles depicted in Figure 1, the PIPESYS and
this work correspond to flow in a typical gas pipeline, the ASPEN HYSYS predictions are in good agreement, from
thermodynamic behavior of which is determined by the which the PIPESIM and PIPEPHASE predictions drift
Peng-Robinson equation of state [1]. away rather significantly along the pipeline. The tem-
perature profiles for this case study are shown in Figure
2. As can be seen, due to the Joule Thompson effect, the
temperature predictions of all four simulators gradually
drop below the ambient temperature when the heat
transfer coefficient is kept constant [2]. Clearly, the
temperature profiles simulated by PIPESYS and PIPE
module ASPEN HYSYS match fairly well.
As has been thoroughly discussed by Abdollahi et al. [2],
Coulter and Bardon [3] modified Schorre’s equation [4]
and proposed the following equation for the explicit calcu-
Figure 1: Pressure profiles for the case of fixed overall heat transfer lation of the temperature profile along a gas pipeline:
coefficient.
In the first case study, the overall heat transfer coefficient (1)
between fluid, i.e. natural gas, and ambient air (6 ˚C) is
JULY-SEPT 2008 7
Nomenclature References
Cp heat capacity, (J/kg K) [1] Peng, D.Y. and Robinson, D.B., A new two-constant equation of
d pipe thickness, (inch) State, Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., 15, 58-64, 1976.
Di pipe internal diameter, (inch) [2] Abdolahi, F., Mesbah, A., Boozarjomehry, R.B. and Svrcek, W.Y.,
Do pipe outside diameter, (inch) The effect of major parameters on simulation results of gas
k pipe thermal conductivity, (Btu.h-1.ft-1.F-1) pipelines, Int. J. Mech. Sci., 49 (8), 989-1000, 2007.
ka air thermal conductivity, (Btu.h-1.ft-1.F-1) [3] Coulter, T.L. and Bardon, M.F., Revised equation improves flow-
L. pipe length, (km) ing gas temperature prediction, Oil Gas J., 26, 107–108, 1979.
m gas mass flow-rate, (kg.h-1) [4] Schorre, C.E., Here’s how to calculate flow temperature in a
n number of segments gas pipeline, Oil Gas J., 7, 66–68, 1954. PP
Pο inlet pressure, (psig)
This paper was contributed by Mr. Ali Mesbah,
SG specific gravity
Process & Energy Laboratory, Delft University of
Tο inlet temperature of gas, (°C)
Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
Ta ambient air temperature, (°C)
The co-authors of the article are Mr. Farzad Abdolahi
ua air velocity, (m.s-1)
Demneh, Department of Chemical Engineering, Fac-
U overall heat transfer coefficient, (Btu.h-1.ft-2.F-1)
ulty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
ε absolute pipe roughness, (inch)
and Mr. Amirhadi Jaberi, Process Department, Tehran
µ air viscosity, (cP)
Raymand Consulting Engineers, Tehran, Iran.
η Joule–Thompson coefficient (K/Pa)