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Butterfly Valves: Uses, Types, Working,

Advantages, Symbols
Written by Anup Kumar Dey   in Pipeline ,Piping Design and Layout ,Piping
Materials
 Table of Contents
 Butterfly Valve Uses
 Components of a Butterfly Valve
 Functions of a Butterfly Valve
 Types of Butterfly Valves
 Butterfly Valve Advantages
 Disadvantages of Butterfly valve
 Butterfly Valve vs Gate Valve
 Ball Valve vs Butterfly Valve
 Symbol of Butterfly Valve
 Butterfly Valve Standard
 Butterfly Valve Materials
 Data to be Provided for Butterfly Valve Manufacturer
 Butterfly Valve Working Principle
 Butterfly Valve Manufacturers
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Butterfly valves belong to quarter-turn rotational motion valves family and used
primarily to stop, regulate, or start the flow. The term “butterfly” in a butterfly
valve is actually a disk that is connected to a rod. When this rod rotates the disk
by 90° the butterfly valve opens or closes. Butterfly valves are popular in industry
because of their lightweight, fast operation, and low costs. These valves use
handles, gears, or automatic actuators for operation as per the requirement.

Butterfly Valve Uses

The use of Butterfly valves is broad and wide. Some typical applications of butterfly
valves are

 Water supply
 Wastewater treatment, Slurry services.
 Fire protection, air and gas supply
 Vacuum services
 Lubrication System
 In the chemical and oil industries
 In fuel handling systems
 Power generation
 Compressed air and gas services
 Steam Services
 Food Processing
 Pharmaceutical
 Marine System
 Sanitary Valve Application.
Basically, Butterfly Valves are suitable for use in

 Constant Load Applications

 Space-Restrictive Applications
 Throttling Valves

Components of a Butterfly Valve

Fig. 1: Components of a butterfly valve
There are four main components in a butterfly valve: body, disk, stem and seat.

 Valve body: the body of the Butterfly valves fits two pipe flanges, the most
common body design is lug and wafer type (Fig. 2).
 Butterfly valve disk: The disk (disc) is the element that stops the flow. For
improving flow, sealing, and operating torque, There are variations in disk design and
orientation.
 Valve Stem: The stem of the butterfly valve consists of a one-piece or two-piece
shaft design. Stem design shall prevent galling potential between similar corrosion-
resistant materials.
 Butterfly valve Seat: To provide shutoff, the seat of a butterfly valve utilizes an
interference fit between the disk edge and the seat. The seat may be bonded,
pressed, or locked into the body.

Fig. 2: Lug and Wafer Type Butterfly Valve

Functions of a Butterfly Valve
The main functions of a butterfly valve is

 Flow regulation: Flow can be easily controlled or regulated simply by turning the

valve wheel.Using a flow controller the process can be automated.
 Flow Isolation
 Prevention of Backflow: Butterfly valves can be used for backflow prevention in
some situations.

Types of Butterfly Valves

Depending on disc closure design, connection design, and actuation method, Butterfly
valves can be categorized into several types.

 Based on Disc Closure Design

 Concentric Butterfly Valve
 Eccentric Butterfly Valve
 Single-Offset
 Double Offset
 Triple Offset
 Based in Piping Connection
 Lug type
 Wafer Type
 Flanged Butterfly Valve
 Butt-welded Butterfly Valves for high-pressure applications
 Based on Operation method
 Manual Actuation
 Lever Operated
 Gear Operated
 Automatic Actuation
 Electric
 Pneumatic
 Hydraulic
 Based on Seat Material
 Soft Seated
 Metal Seated

Concentric Butterfly Valve

The concentric butterfly valve is the most basic type of butterfly valve design. In this
design, the stem passes through the centreline of the disc. This is also known as a
zero-offset valve. Concentric butterfly valves are used for low-pressure services.

Eccentric Butterfly Valve

In an eccentric butterfly valve, the stem does not pass through the centerline of the disc.
There are three types of offset valves.

 A Single-offset valve is the butterfly valve where the stem is located right
behind the centreline of the disc.
 In a double-offset butterfly valve design, the stem is located behind the disc
with an additional offset to one side.
 For highly critical applications, a triple offset butterfly valve is used. The third
offset is in between the disc and seat contact axis. This design results in minimal
seat contact thus very less wear and highly efficient.
Fig. 3: Single, Double and triple Offset Butterfly Valve Design

Lug Type Butterfly valve

The lug-style butterfly valve (Fig. 2) designs have threaded lugs outside the valve body.
Using two sets of studs, the valve is connected with piping flanges. One end of the line
can be disconnected without affecting the other side since each flange has its own
bolts.

Wafer Type Butterfly Valve

A wafer-type butterfly valve is sandwiched between two pipe flanges and the flange
bolts surround the valve body. This is the most economical butterfly valve. Long bolts
are used covering both flanges and valve body. A wafer butterfly valve provides sealing
against bi-directional pressure difference in the fluid flow. The wafer version of the
butterfly valves is designed to protect against a tight seal and two-way pressure
difference.

Butterfly Valve Advantages

Butterfly Valves provides many advantages as compared to other valve types.
 Compact design; little space requirement.
 Lightweight; easily supported by the piping system.
 Quick operation; less opening or closing time.
 Easy to Install.
 Simple operation due to low operation torque.
 Available in very large sizes
 Improved energy efficiency
 Low-pressure drop and high-pressure recovery
 Long valve life
 Relatively inexpensive to build.
 Less number of parts; Hence, reduced maintenance.

Disadvantages of Butterfly valve

However, there are few disadvantages of butterfly valve as listed below

 Throttling service is limited to low differential pressure

 Disc movement is affected by flow turbulence.
 The valve disc is always under pressure and can interrupt the flow even in an
open position.
 Possibility of Cavitation and choked flow is a concern
 Poor Sealing function.
 Not suitable for high differential pressure.

Butterfly Valve vs Gate Valve

The main differences between a butterfly valve and a gate valve are tabulated below

Butterfly Valve Gate Valve

Obstructed flow even in a fully open position Unobstructed flow in the fully open position

Easy to handle and install Comparatively difficult

Size smaller, reduced space requirements Size bigger, more space requirement

Comparatively less pressure withstanding capability High pressure withstanding Capability

Quick operation, possibility of water hammer Operating time is more; less chance of surge.

Shorter Shaft, Easy access Longer Shaft, difficulty access

Less weight More weight

Cheaper Expensive
Table: Butterfly Valve vs Gate Valve

Ball Valve vs Butterfly Valve

The main differences between butterfly valve and ball valve is produced below in a
tabular format.

Butterfly Valve Ball Valve

Disk Mounted Ball Mounted

More Pressure drop Less pressure Drop

Less sealing More effective Sealing

Light Weight Heavier

Less Space More Space

Cheaper Costly
Table: Butterfly Valve vs Ball Valve

Symbol of Butterfly Valve

The following symbols are used as butterfly valve symbol in isometric and P&ID.

Fig. 4: Butterfly Valve Symbol

Butterfly Valve Standard
Industrial Butterfly valves are designed based on the following butterfly valve standards

 API 609
 MSS SP-67
 BS EN 593
 ISO 5752
 MSS SP-68
 AWWA C504

Butterfly Valve Materials

The following materials are normally used for butterfly valve components

Butterfly Valve Body Disc Material Stem material Seat material

Carbon Steel Aluminium Cast Steel Neoprene

Stainless Steel Stainless Steel Stainless Steel PTFE

Cart Iron      EPDM

Ductile iron     NBR

Cast Bronze     Viton

DSS     BUNA-N

Nickel Alloy/Hastelloy     Inconel (Metal Seat)

Titanium Alloy     Stainless Steel

Table: Butterfly Valve Materials

Data to be Provided for Butterfly Valve Manufacturer

The following data should be provided to the butterfly valve manufacturer while ordering

 Flange rating/Pressure
 Specific gravity, viscosity, material content, the composition of the fluid to be
handled.
 Pressure drop or required Cv (maximum)
 Flow rate
 Design and operating temperatures
 Piping moments
 Valve body, Disc, Seat material
 Valve plate material
 Valve diameter or connected pipe diameter

Fig. 5: Butterfly Valves in Operating Plant

Butterfly Valve Working Principle

The butterfly valve operates based on the quick shut off principle. The circular disc
(butterfly) of the valve is placed in the center of the pipe which allows a rod to go
through it to an actuator, on the outer side of the valve. Using the handwheel, the metal
disc is rotated to keep the disc parallel or perpendicular to the flow and it allows or
closes the flow. So, the operating principle of the butterfly valves is fairly simple. The
animation below by the GEMU group clearly shows the butterfly valve working.