Investigation of the Effects of Hydraulic Transient due to Instantaneous Valve Closure in a Petroleum Pipeline

Abstract

This article focused on the analysis of butt welded joints of a carbon steel pressure vessels reactor under certain conditions to determine a safe operating condition of the system. ANSYS was used to simulate and evaluate the butt welded joints. The welds were analyzed under load, thermal and fluid flow conditions so as to determine the optimum condition under which the welds and system may deform or become compromised. Results showed that the values of induced stress and strain obtained under a thermal load of 160MPa were 610.10MPa and 0.0069, respectively. In addition, the maximum principal stress and strain-induced on the butt welded joints under 160 MPa load condition were 1.096x10 5 MPa and 0.445, respectively. It was observed that the deformation on the system due to residual stresses developed around the heat affected zone of the butt weld would not cause the system to fail.