In today’s crowded process plants, less than ideal straight pipe runs often result in swirling fluid flows and asymmetrical velocity profile distortions that affect the efficient, continuous operation of equipment, such as gas compressors, valves and pumps and the accuracy of sensitive instruments, such as flowmeters.
The efficiency of natural gas compressors, for example, can be easily reduced by such disturbed flow conditions, which also potentially increases maintenance and the total cost of operating gas pipelines.
Gas with swirling or asymmetric velocity flow profiles can result as it is routed through compressor stations on long, complex pipelines and into storage facilities due to shortages of real estate, crowded equipment conditions, the use of pipe elbows or valves and variable pipeline demand.
There are several types of critical equipment, including gas compressors, pumps, valves and flow instrumentation, which require relatively long lengths of pipe straight-run for high efficiency operation.
Pipe system
It can take up to 40 pipe diameters of unobstructed straight pipe run...
Increasing throughput and accuracy
