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Practitioner 3 days

Relief and Flare System Design Workshop

Sizing for the case that governs, including the reactive one nobody sized for

Relief sizing is taught as a code exercise and fails as a scenario selection problem. This workshop covers the full case set from fire through to blocked outlet and runaway reaction, the two phase flow methods that a reactive case demands, and the flare header hydraulics that decide whether the device can actually relieve.

This course sits alongside our Relief System Design consulting work, so what is taught is what we do.

Who should attend

Process and mechanical engineers sizing or reviewing relief devices
Design contractors preparing relief studies
Plant engineers assessing existing installations against current codes
HAZOP leaders who need to know when a relief case has not been assessed

Course content

Every module is taught with worked examples and exercises drawn from real plant, and adapted to your own process where the course runs in house.

1

Scenario selection

  • The full credible case set and the discipline of not stopping at fire
  • Blocked outlet, control valve failure, tube rupture, thermal expansion and utility failure
  • Runaway reaction and external fire on a reacting system
  • Linking relief case selection to HAZOP output so nothing is missed
2

Single phase sizing

  • Vapour, liquid and steam sizing from the code equations
  • Fire case heat input, wetted area and environmental factors
  • Back pressure, built up and superimposed, and its effect on device selection
  • Conventional, balanced bellows and pilot operated device selection
3

Two phase and reactive relief

  • Why a reactive system cannot be sized as though it were vapour only
  • DIERS methodology and system type classification into vapour, gassy and hybrid
  • Leung's method and the omega approach
  • Calorimetry data requirements and the thermal inertia correction
4

Disposal and headers

  • Flare header hydraulics and the effect of simultaneous relief
  • Knockout drum sizing and liquid carryover
  • Flare radiation and dispersion of the relieved stream
  • Effluent handling where the relieved material cannot go to flare
5

Documentation and review

  • A relief study record that another engineer can check
  • Recognising a device that was sized for the wrong case
  • Revalidation triggers under management of change

What you receive

  • Relief case selection and sizing worksheets
  • Worked single phase and two phase calculations
  • A relief study review checklist
  • Assessment result and attendance record

What changes afterwards

  • Reactive scenarios get sized rather than assumed covered by the fire case
  • Devices are selected against the back pressure they will actually see
  • Existing installations get assessed honestly against current methodology
  • Relief studies come back from contractors in a reviewable form

Standards and references

We teach Relief and Flare System Design Workshop against API 520 parts 1 and 2 for sizing, selection and installation and the codes listed with it, at the edition current when you run it.

API 520 parts 1 and 2 for sizing, selection and installationAPI 521 for pressure relieving and depressuring systemsASME Section VIII Division 1 for overpressure protectionDIERS methodology for two phase and reactive relief

Run Relief and Flare System Design Workshop for your team

We will come back with dates, the pre-reading it needs and a cost per head. Tell us who is attending, what they already do day to day and whether you want it at your site or delivered online.

Ask about dates and cost