Relief Valve Sizing and Flare System Design and Analysis Training

trainingWhy Does Your Company Need Relief Valve Sizing Training?

Standards such as OSHA’s process safety management (PSM) in the United States and Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) in the European Union, as well as many internal corporate standards, require companies to demonstrate that they protect their processes against overpressure hazards and that they rigorously evaluate the design of the pressure relief systems providing that protection.

Relief Valve Sizing Training Content

This three-day course will help process safety engineers and managers prepare to meet key elements of the standards by presenting proven best practices and methodologies for overpressure contingency identification and relief device sizing. The course demonstrates a step-by-step pressure relief design heuristic, based on Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering Practices (RAGAGEP). In addition, instructors will provide practical examples for illustration purposes.

The training includes discussions and explanations on the following:

  • The need for overpressure protection and the relevant standards, codes and practices regarding overpressure protection
  • The application of pressure relief devices as a layer of protection against overpressure
  • A practical approach to pressure relief system design that encompasses the full life-cycle of emergency relief system design
  • The information generally required for the analysis of pressure relief systems and what questions need to be resolved up front before starting the analysis
  • Overpressure contingencies that should be considered for design
  • The various calculation methodologies available for generating a steady-state required relief rate
  • The techniques commonly employed to determine the capacity of relief devices and to design adequate installation constraints
  • The considerations for handling the relief fluid after leaving the relief device
  • The operation and maintenance of the emergency relief system

More specifically, course topics include the following:

  • Government requirements such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) 1910
  • Design standards such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Section VIII Pressure Vessel Code and the American Petroleum Institute’s API-STD520, API-STD521, and API-STD2000 standards
  • Mechanical details of various relief devices (e.g. pressure safety valves, rupture disks, buckling pins, and low pressure vents)
  • Advantages and disadvantages of these relief devices
  • Relief device installation considerations
  • Typical pressure relief analysis data requirements
  • Overpressure contingency assessment
  • Relief device selection
  • Effluent handling specification
  • Continued operation of pressure relief and effluent handling systems
  • What data is typically collected and where to find that data
  • The gray areas in the codes and practices that need to be clarified
  • Source identification, pressure development and situations that lead to overpressure (e.g. exposure to fire, overfilling and utility failures)
  • Control valve failures
  • Flow limitations by piping system capacities and fluid driving equipment
  • Various fire exposure calculations
  • Flow through split heat exchanger tubes
  • API-STD2000 inbreathing and outbreathing calculations
  • Column upsets
  • Highlights of advanced calculations including runaway chemical reactions and dynamic relief analysis
  • Theoretical flow constraints (e.g. isentropic nozzle flow) and modifications to these for use in practical applications
  • Inlet and outlet pressure drop calculations
  • Atmospheric dispersion
  • Piping collection systems
  • Separation equipment
  • Flaring
  • Relief valve inspection and considerations for management of change

Flare System Design and Analysis Training

The operation of individual relief systems that provide overpressure protection for process equipment introduces the concern of what to do with the fluid that is relieved during an overpressure event. The design of the pressure relief system must incorporate the strategy for handling the effluent. This two-day course will help process safety engineers and managers design comprehensive pressure relief systems by presenting strategies for dealing with relief effluent and the design considerations for those effluent handling equipment. This training provides an explanation of the design considerations for various types of effluent handling equipment and includes a practical example showing the application of flare header hydraulic calculations, gravity separator design, radiation calculations, and dispersion modeling.

Topics include:

  • Atmospheric vents
  • Centrifugal liquid-vapor separation
  • Elevated flare tips
  • Gravity liquid-vapor separation
  • Quench pools
  • Seals
  • Thermal oxidizers
  • Use of the design calculations for effluent handling equipment

Contact us to learn how we can customize relief valve sizing training or flare system design and analysis training for your employees.

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