Pipeline Technology Conference 2017 Berlin

PRACTICAL GUIDELINES TO MITIGATE FLOW INDUCED FAILURES

Eddie Achterkamp, Wytze Sloterdijk

DNV GL Oil&Gas, Netherlands

1 ABSTRACT
Gas under high pressure and with high velocity contains a serious amount of kinetic
energy. This kinetic energy is the main condition for the appearance of vibrations
and therefore a risk for vibration induced fatigue failures. In general, lower gas
velocities will lead to lower integrity risks but there are exceptions, as will be
discussed in this paper.
The impact of high gas velocities on the integrity of gas pipeline systems will be
illustrated with failure statistics and failure examples, like fatigue and erosion.
Circumstances that have led to these real failure cases will be elaborated and root
causes will be discussed.
Following the failure cases, the background of the impact of high gas velocities will
be addressed, with special attention to the occurrence of flow induced pulsations and
vibration induced fatigue failures.
The physical phenomena leading to flow induced pulsations and vibrations will be
visualized and described in a very practical way. Attention will be given to relevant
codes and practices. Potential additional effects of pulsations, like misreading’s, flow
resistance and noise, will be stipulated.
Based on the above, practical solutions and mitigating measures will be described.
The object of this paper is to provide awareness to the reader of the mechanism
behind flow induced vibrations. It will concentrate on transfer of practical
understanding of and practical guidelines for the avoidance of flow induced problems
and especially fatigue failures. It will be useful for facility managers, operators,
designers, and engineers when they need to identify and or to avoid catastrophic
instances of vibration-induced fatigue failures in their gas pipeline system, both
pipelines and facilities.

2 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, all assets within a gas transmission system require an integrity
management system to ensure the safe and reliable operation of the infrastructure
(1), (2). Implementation of an integrity management program requires a systematic
approach and contains as important elements an “identification of the safety aspects
for pipeline integrity” (EN code (1)) or “An identification of threats to each covered
pipeline segment, which must include data integration and a risk assessment” (US
code). The US code (2) refers to ASME B31.8S (3). The EU code mentions some
specific threats and refers further to operator experience, incident data, national or
international databases or publications.
Focus is at threats like external and internal corrosion and third party damage.
Nevertheless, the impact of high gas velocities on the integrity of gas pipeline
systems should not be neglected because they can quickly lead to fatigue failures or
to erosion problems on the long term. This will be shown in the next chapter with a
published failure statistic of facility failures and relevant real-life failure examples.

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3 FAILURE STATISTICS AND EXAMPLES

Most databases on failure cases in gas assets are quite generic and do not show the
specific detail or cause to understand the potential consequences of high gas
velocities. At the IPC 2012 an overview of experience of more than 15 years with
failure investigation in facilities in a gas transmission system of a European operator
was reported. The failures were classified by failure cause (see Table 1). Time
dependent mechanisms are in italics. Around 70% of the total failures are due to
time dependent mechanisms.

Table 1: Causes of 43 failures in facilities in a gas transmission system (1989-2006)

(4)
Cause %
Fatigue 27
Overstressing 14
Corrosion 12
Season cracking 7
Stainless steel SCC 5
Brittle fracture 5
Erosion 5
Hydrogen attack 5
Production failure 5
Construction failure 5
Galvanic corrosion 2
Wear 2
Leak and explosion 2
Pitting stainless steel 2
High temperature 2
embitterment
Total 100
In table 1, two failures (5%) were attributed to erosion. In gas transmission systems
with limited gas velocities (< 20 m/sec) and dust and liquid filtering, leading to clean
gas inside the gas assets, this is usually not of high concern. In situations with very
high flow rates (blow downs, leaks, excessive demands), when the velocity can also
be high, the normally trapped dust and liquids particles get mobilized and at these
high velocities, this can lead to erosion. A very representative example can be seen
in picture 1. This is the result of blow-down operations in which a lot of liquid and
solid particles were present in the gas stream.

Figure 1: Leak caused by erosion in an outer bend of an elbow.

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Another more imminent cause of failures is fatigue, the top cause in table 1. In total
as many as 12 failures (27%) were attributed to fatigue. According to the Energy
Institute’s “Guidelines for the avoidance of vibration induced fatigue failure in process
pipework” (5), between 10% and 15% of pipework failures in onshore facilities in
Western Europe are caused by vibration induced fatigue. Moreover, data from UK’s
Health and Safety Executive report that 20% of hydrocarbon release in the UK sector
of the North Sea are caused by piping vibration and fatigue (6). When this occurs,
rupture can occur within a very short timeframe, as will be shown in the next
example:
January 4th, 1997, the latest 200 km long distance speed skating event ‘the
Elfstedentocht’ was held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands.
This was the result of a very cold period starting just before Christmas1996, with
lowest daily average temperatures of -12C in the beginning of January 1997. A lot of
gas was required to keep the Netherlands warm and flow rates were very high. In
that period a series of fatigue failures occurred in installations that were already in
service for more than 30 years. Flows were calculated to have been above 50 m/s.
An example of such a failure is in figure 2 and 3.

Figure 2: detail of a gas facility with a potential fatigue failure location

In figure 2, red marked, a filter is shown. It has a relative large mass compared to the
small piece of pipe for the connection. The filter has no additional support.

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Figure 3: Fatigue failure part

Figure 3 is showing one failure out of the series of failures in December 1996 at a
filter with the same function and position as in figure 2.
In the next chapters, circumstances that can lead to this kind of fatigue fractures will
be elaborated, root causes will be discussed and practical solutions and mitigation
measures will be indicated.

4 KINETIC ENERGY
Gas flowing through a pipeline contains kinetic energy. For example, through a 60
bar 48-inch pipeline, transporting gas with a velocity of 20 m/s (72 km/h), 1000 kg of
mass is passing every second. This contains the same amount of kinetic energy as
would be present on a busy road where every second a middle-class car is passing
with a speed of 72 km per hour. It is needless to explain what only one of those cars
can cause when it does not keep its lane.
This amount of kinetic energy is also present in a 60 bar 16-inch pipeline
transporting gas with a velocity of 60 m/s (216 km/h). The transported mass is
reduced to 110 kg per hour, while the speed is tripled. So, a gas transport pipeline
not only needs to withstand the static pressure of the gas, but it also needs to control
the kinetic energy of the transported medium and the dynamic forces attributed to it.

5 DYNAMIC FORCES, TURBULENCE

Turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime in fluid dynamics characterized by
chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity.

5.1 NORMAL TURBULENCE

Even in long straight pipelines with a smooth surface inside, some pressure drop will
occur because of friction along the pipe wall. Near the pipe wall the velocity of the
gas will be lower than in the center of the pipe. This is a mild form of turbulence that
can be heard as flow noise.
Knowing this it becomes clear that a change in the direction of a pipeline, like a bend
or T-joint, will result in flow patterns that are far from ideal and will cause more
pressure drop and heavier turbulence. This also counts for intruding elements, like
thermowells sampling probes, flow conditioners, filters and static mixers. When the

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velocity of the gas increases, the intensity of turbulence will also increase, as well as
the resulting pressure drop.

5.2 HEAVY TURBULENCE

In bends and even more in T-joints, the gas molecules must change direction within
very small distances. This leads to very irregular flow patterns. At a sufficient high
gas velocity, the flow may detach from the pipe wall in the inner curve, resulting in
pressure drop and even some backflow in that area (see figure 4). These areas are
very instable, and collapse from time to time in an irregular pattern causing pulses in
the gas and resulting in forces on the piping.
With increasing velocity, the intensity of the forces will increase and can become
destructive to the piping. This risk is not always recognized by operators.

Figure 4: Fluid velocity and kinetic energy profile in a T-joint. The arrow indicates the
direction of flow (figures reproduced from Guidelines for the avoidance of vibration
induced fatigue in process pipework published by the Energy Institute).

From figure 4 It may be clear that a T-joint is a potential heavy source of turbulence
as a result of the instable flow pattern. This generates kinetic energy pulses over a
large frequency range as can be seen in figure 5.

Figure 5: Distribution of the kinetic energy over the frequency

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Most of the kinetic energy is concentrated in the low frequency range when this
excites low frequency mechanical resonances the risk of fatigue failures increases.

5.3 FATIGUE RISK DUE TO TURBULENCE

Manifolds in gas facilities, like compressor stations, reducer stations and measuring
stations, always contain T-joints. This implies that sources for heavy turbulence are
always present. Additionally, a substantial amount of the piping will be located above
ground. Despite supporting, these parts will have more freedom to move than
underground piping.
Small bore connections for several purposes, like pressure measurements and
blowdown/fill-up lines, are regularly connected to the pipe parts above ground for
maintenance reasons. A typical example is displayed in figure 6.

Figure 6: A typical example at a pressure reducing facility, discussed items are

indicated

Although the process situation is unknown, potential risk for flow induced turbulence
can be addressed. The large T-joints at the upper left are potential sources of heavy
turbulence when the gas velocity is high enough. The small-bore connections of the
fill-up line are not supported (the line even supports another smaller line). When
turbulence is strong enough to create some mechanical displacement of the main
line, the overhung mass of the fill-up line might be excited in its mechanical
resonance frequency resulting in bending forces at the welds on the main line. Note
that even when the configuration of the supports was designed properly and the
system was operating safe, some years of operation can introduce seemingly minor
changes, as can be seen on figure 7, where a support is not functional anymore.

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Figure 7: Detail of inadequate support in construction of figure 6.

Figure 7 is showing an inadequate support that is probably bagged or the main line
is lifted due to temperature changes in the medium. As a result, the support
distances are highly increased and correspondingly the stiffness of the main line is
reduced. This leads to a lower mechanical resonance frequency of the piping system,
making it more accessible to the turbulent shaking forces. The original assumption
that the system is operating safely because it was well calculated is no longer valid.
As a result, the fill-up line in figure 6 could now be subject to bending forces leading
to fatigue.

6 DYNAMIC FORCES, RESONANCE

Resonance is a phenomenon in which a vibrating system or external force drives
another system to oscillate with greater amplitude at a specific preferential frequency.
Frequencies at which the response amplitude is a relative maximum are known as
the system's resonance frequencies. At resonance frequencies, small periodic
driving forces can produce large amplitude oscillations, due to the storage of
vibrational energy. Acoustic resonance is a phenomenon that consists of a given
acoustic system amplifying a sound whose frequency matches one of its own natural
frequencies of vibration (its resonance frequencies).
T-joints, intrusion elements and objects in the pipe have a common property; they
cause vortices when gas is flowing along them. Vortices are generated in the shear
layer between the flowing gas and the stationary gas in a closed side branch or
behind an object. The generated vortices have a frequency that is mainly determined
by the form and size of the object and the velocity of the gas. In general, the intensity
of the vortices is harmless, but the presence of a clear vortex frequency combined
with the relation to the velocity of the gas is the real potential danger.

6.1 SIDE BRANCH RESONANCE

Vortices at the open end of a closed side branch induce altering flow in the side
branch. When the frequency of the vortices equals the acoustic resonance frequency
of the closed side branch, the resonator becomes active and a standing wave

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becomes present in the pipe. This phenomenon has been made visual in a test set-
up using a high-speed camera. Following are some snap shots showing eight
phases of a vortex in a closed and resonating side branch.

Figure 8: Snap shots of a vortex in a closed and resonating side branch. (7)

This sequence of the vortex is repeating and activates the acoustic resonator.
The best example of an acoustic resonator is an organ pipe which is closed at the
bottom, see figure 9.

Figure 9: Schematic of a single side branch resonator (an ‘organ pipe’)

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The main factor for the frequency it produces is the length (L) of the closed end in
meters. The second factor is the speed of sound (c) in the gaseous medium (air for
organ pipes) in m/s.
The resonance frequency fn (in Hz) is fn = (2n + 1) * c/(4L)
n = 0, 1, 2, etc.
The base frequency or first resonance mode of an organ pipe resonator (n=0) is the
frequency of a quarter of a wavelength in the pipe.
A numeric example of producing a pure tone of 100 Hz is calculated:
The speed of sound in air is 330 m/s
One wavelength at 100 Hz is 330/100 = 3.3 meter.
The pipe length for a 100 Hz tone needs to be 3.3/4 = 82.5 cm
Note that shorter pipes have higher resonance frequencies and hence, the pure tone
is higher. It is also possible to have higher resonance modes (higher tones) at odd
multiples of quarter wavelengths resulting in frequencies of 300 Hz, 500 Hz and so
on.
In gas transport systems organ pipe-like resonators are very common. Most common
is the side branch of a T-joint where at the open end the vortices can be generated
and the closed end is at a valve or dead end of the pipe. The vortex frequency,
generated at such a connection is proportional to the gas flow velocity and is
calculated by:

fs= (s*v)/d
where:

fs = Vortex or Strouhal frequency (Hz)

s = Strouhal number (dimensionless)
v = gas flow velocity (m/s)
d = side-branch diameter (m)

We can use these formulas for the example in the introduction during the start of the
cold winter period in 1996. Inputs for the calculations:

Velocity of the gas v 50 m/s

Side branch diameter d 0.38 m
Strouhal number s 0.2 (for this situation)
Resonance mode n 0
Speed of sound in the gas c 400 m/s
Length of the side branch L 4m

Vortex frequency fs = (s*v)/d = (0.2*50)/0.38 = 26.3 Hz

Resonance frequency fn = (2n + 1) * c/(4L) = 1*(400/4*4) = 25 Hz

The calculated vortex frequency is higher than the resonance frequency. This implies
that the first resonance mode can be activated and flow induced pulsations can
occur

From these formulas, it becomes clear that the vortex frequency is not only
proportional to the gas flow velocity but also inversely proportional to the side branch
diameter. This implies that small bore side branches in situations with high gas flow

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velocities cause very high vortex frequencies. This will be illustrated in the following
example.

Acoustic resonance and associated threats.

Figure 10 (below) is showing six small short side branches, all for measurement
purposes, see the connected 12 mm lines and the pressure indicator. The side
branches have a diameter of 2 inches and an estimated length of 0.45 m. This
implies that they may resonate at a gas flow velocity of 19 m/s, which is relatively low.
At 57 m/s the next resonance frequency will be activated.

Figure 10: Six short and small bore side branches at a main line

When resonance occurs and the pulsation amplitude is high enough, problems can
arise with e.g. fatigue, but also other phenomena can occur, see figure 11 a and b.

Figure 11a and b: Closer view at the pressure indicator.

The pressure indicator looks internally damaged. Abrasive at the inner side of the
glass can be seen. The internals have cogged them self out due to high vibrations.
Although the construction of the side branches and valves looks very solid, a
continues vibration might cause fatigue in the material. Besides cracks in the steel, it
may also cause cracks in the coating or paint, leading to corrosion.

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7 MITIGATION
Fatigue due to high gas velocities is best mitigated by:
- awareness of the risks for dynamic forces in pipe systems for gas transport,
also if there is no reciprocating compressor used
- analysis by flow experts and by use of analysis tools like GASFIP (8). During
design, relative simple adjustments can often mitigate flow induced problems
during operation.
- periodic inspection of the stability and functionality of all supports
- periodic monitoring of vibration behavior of the piping
- permanent control of operating conditions to prevent situations where gas
velocities increase over historic values.
- analysis for flow induced fatigue when, even small, changes are made to the
existing system

An example of detailed mitigating measures will be given for the construction of

figure 10 and 11 (example 2).
The five side branches are all in use for measurement purposes. This means that
there is zero (or nearly zero) flow in the side branches. This implies that the diameter
of the side branch could have been much smaller. Probably due to other mechanical
demands, the side branches are fabricated in 2 inch while there is no need to have a
2-inch opening in the side branch. A 10-mm reduced bore is enough for a
measurement. The smaller opening together with the 2-inch pipe piece will act as a
low pass filter and will prevent the side branch to resonate at high frequencies.

Figure 12: Full bore and reduced bore side branch connections

8 OTHER UNWANTED PHENOMENA DUE TO PULSATIONS

Misreading’s
The accuracy of several kinds of process measurements can decrease when they
are exposed to pulsations. We have experienced this for turbine flowmeters, rotary
flowmeters and differential pressure transmitters. Even ghost counting’s in no flow
lines have been observed.

Process instability
Process control is depending on several measurement values from the process.
Misreading’s of these measurements can lead to improper process control or, even
worse, to oscillation of the process. This can occur when the process control is
altering the process flow in and out of pulsation regions.

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Additional flow resistance

In flow lines where pulsations appear, additional flow resistance will be the result.
The explanation is that the energy for the pulsations is taken from the process. This
can lead to misreading’s, decrease of efficiency and process instability.

Noise production
Pulsations with frequencies in the audible range may also produce noise. Extreme
noise production is often caused by transversal acoustic resonance. A phenomenon
that is not discussed in this paper.

10 WRAP-UP
During engineering of a complete installation or a modification, it is of importance to
have a good perception of the likelihood of failure in the design. A flow analysis of a
design or modification can prevent problems from happening and quite often, easy,
low cost adaptions are feasible. For high velocities in designs and complex manifolds
it is advisable to have acoustic specialist (like from DNV GL) to determine the risk
due to vibration and pulsation on the manifold design. Curing an issue in design
stage is far cheaper than curing an issue when it is already present in an existing
installation.
During operation mitigating measures, adequate understanding and analysis of flow
induced threats are necessary to prevent unforeseen failures due to high gas
velocities.

REFERENCES
(1) EN 16348: 2013: Gas infrastructure – Safety Management System (SMS) for
gas transmission infrastructure and Pipeline Integrity Management System
(PIMS) for gas transmission pipelines – Functional requirements
(2) 49 CFR 192: subpart O – Gas Transmission Pipeline Integrity Management.
(3) ASME B31.8S: Managing System Integrity of Gas Pipelines
(4) W. Sloterdijk, M. Hommes: A System based approach to achieve long term
integrity of gas facilities, IPC2012-90172; September 24-28, 2012, Calgary,
Alberta, Canada
(5) Guidelines for the Avoidance of Vibration Induced Fatigue Failure in Process
Pipework, Energy Institute, Health and Safety Executive, 2008
(6) Offshore Hydrocarbon Releases Statistics And Analysis, Health and Safety
Executive, 2002
(7) M.C.A.M. Peters, H.J. Riezebos: Analysis of the occurrence of flow induced
pulsations in a gas control station. Paper presented at “International Gas
Research Conference”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2001
(8) H.J. Riezebos, J.P. Mulder: “Acoustic and Flow Induced Vibration - causing
failures in pipelines and installations” -Technical design review of gas assets –
Paper presented at the “Vibration Day” in Groningen, 28 January 2014

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