Gas is supplied to a system from a source which is 2.3 km away. The same source supplies gas to other systems also in upstream. Just before the system a 400 Cu.m buffer vessel is installed. Piping from distant source is joined with a ‘T’ connection with same size pipe from buffer which is leading to the system. Gas pressure is about 35 bar. My question is:
When system starts taking flow suddenly by automatic operation of ball valve, just for about one minute then what will be the fraction of flow rates from distant source and from nearby buffer? Will they be equal or different? If different, which will be more and how to quantify it? Can CFD be helpful to get the answer?
Thanks Jan-Peter for your valuable comment. Here, I would like to add some more details to better clarify the problem.
The distant source is a set of centrifugal compressors of limited capacity. The system requires intermittent consumption of at much higher flow rate. 14” piping from distant source is connected to an equal “Tee” in such a way that its one branch joins to buffer vessels and other branch to the system. Buffer vessels supply the excess flow during short time higher consumption by the system reducing the pressure up to some extent. During non-consumption time pressure again gets built up in upstream of the system.
To me, it looks that flow rate from buffer vessels (only 20 m away from system) may be higher than the piping from distant source because of two reasons:
1) Flow from a large quantity of gas stored nearby, and
2) Direction of flow is straight to the system at “Tee” joint. (Flow from distant source has to turn 90o, where both flow combines).
But how to quantify is the problem. The information available are trends of upstream pressure and flow rate to the system.
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