Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen

Effect of step changes on volume and pressure in a separator

1. Summary
A step change in the inlet liquid flowrate, and a step change in the inlet gas flowrate
were measured to see their effects on the volume of liquid in the separator, as well
as the pressure in the separator. It was seen that a step change in either inlet
flowrates will cause the system to be unstable, thus controllers are required at the
outlet pipes to control the outlet flowrates to ensure this doesnt happen. The step
changes do not cause the system to be unstable in terms of pressure in the separator.

2. Degrees of freedom analysis:

Equation

No. of equations

dVL
FL ,in FL ,out
dt
FL,out L ALL
L

2
PL PL ,0
L L

PL P L g

VL
A

d
(GVG ) FG,in FG,out
dt
VG V VL

FG,out GAGG

2
P PG,0
GG

G
G

MWgP
RT

Total

Unknown
variables
VL , FL ,in , FL ,out

(1)

(2)

PL

(4)

(5)

G , VG , FG,in , FG,out

(6)
(7)

1
1

(3)

(8)
(9)

1
1
9

11

Degrees of freedom = No. of unknown variables No. of equations = 11 9 = 2

3. Initialisation:
As we have 2 degrees of freedom, we need to specify 2 variables to be able to solve
the system. The two specified variables will be:
VL = 18 m3
P = 75 bar

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen

Calculation of FL ,in
Method
Substitute known variables and
assigned variable into (4) to
calculate unknown variable, PL
Substitute calculated variable,
PL into (3) to calculate unknown
variable, L
Substitute calculated variable,
L into (2) to calculate
unknown variable, FL ,out

Calculation

As the system is at steady state,

dVL
= 0, substituting
dt
calculated variable, FL ,out into (1)

PL 7500000 (700 9.81

Result
18
)
20

2
7506000 2000000
3 700

FL,out 72.41 0.01 700

dVL
0 FL ,in 506.9
dt

PL 7506000Pa

L 72.41

m
s

FL,out 506.9

FL ,in 506.9

kg
s

kg
s

gives unknown variable, FL ,in

Calculation of FG,in
Method
Substitute known variables and
assigned variable into (9) to
calculate unknown variable, G
Substitute calculated variable,
G into (8) to calculate
unknown variable, G
Substitute calculated variable,
G into (7) to calculate
unknown variable, FG,out

Calculation

As the system is at steady state,

d
(GVG ) 0 FG,in 50.9
dt

d
(GVG ) = 0, substituting
dt
calculated variable, FG,out into

23 7500000
8314 400

Result
G 51.87

kg
m3

m
2
7500000 6500000 G 98.18
s
4 51.87

FL,out 98.18 0.01 51.87

(5) gives unknown variable, FG,in

FG,out 50.9

FG,in 50.9

kg
s

kg
s

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen

4. Dynamic Simulation results:

Figure 1: effect a 10% step change in the liquid flowrate has on the liquid level,
followed by a 10% step change in the gas flowrate after the system was returned to
steady state

Figure 2: effect a 10% step change in the liquid flowrate has on the pressure in the
separator, followed by a 10% step change in the gas flowrate after the system was
returned to steady state

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen

5. Discussion:
From figure 1, it can be seen that a 10% step change in the liquid flowrate causes the
volume of the liquid in the separator to linearly increase. When the step change was
modelled over a large period of time, the gProms iterator failed. This is because the
volume of the liquid had reached the total volume of the separator so it could not
increase even more as the volume of the separator is fixed. This happened after
1300s, which means that it takes around 21 minutes for the system to become
unstable. This was not displayed in the graph as the gProms iterator failed so the
second step change could not be measured, hence why the step change was
measured over 400s only. The increase in liquid volume in the separator was
expected as the inlet flowrate was altered without any changes to the outlet
flowrates.
Also, from figure 1, we can see that when the gas flowrate in the separator was
increased by 10%, the liquid volume in the separator began to linearly decrease,
which again is very normal, as the inlet flowrate of the gas was increased without
any changes to the outlet flowrates. What was different however, is that the liquid
volume decrease was at a much slower rate than the liquid volume increase. This is
because the flowrate of the gas is approximately ten times smaller than the flowrate
of the liquid so a 10% step change in the gas flowrate is approximately ten times
smaller than a 10% step change in the liquid flowrate. Additionally, the liquid is much
more dense than the gas, and the step change was in the mass flowrate, so an
increase in the mass of the gass in the separator doesnt have a large effect on the
volume inside the separator when compared to an increase in the mass of liquid as
the liquid takes up much more space. Again, if the step change was allowed to
continue for a long time, the system would have reached instability as there would
be no more space for gas to be added in the separator, hence the step change was
measured over 400s only.
To overcome the problems faced when there is a 10% step change in the liquid/gas
flowrates, controllers need to be fitted at the outlet that can control the outlet
flowrates so as to increase the flowrate of the liquid or decrease the flowrate of the
gas when there is a step change in the liquid flowrate. When there is a 10% step
change in the gas flowrate, then the controllers would increase the outlet flowrate of
the gas or decrease the outlet flowrate of the liquid.
From figure 2, it can be seen that an increase in the liquid flowrate causes the
pressure in the separator to rapidly increase in a linear manner, then slowly levelling
to a steady state of 76.2 bar. This happens in a space of around 60s. This happens as
the volume of liquid in the separator increases, therefore causing the volume of gas
to decrease and due to compressibility, this decrease in gas pressure causes the
overall pressure to increase.
An increase in the gas flowrate causes the pressure to increase in a similar way as it
did with an increase in liquid flowrate, however, this time it reaches a steady state of
76.6 bar. A reason why the pressure increases to a larger steady state when the gas
4

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen

flowrate is increased is because there is more gas coming into the system, and the
liquid flowrate is decreasing at a very slow rate, therefore this increase in gas causes
the pressure to increase due to compressibility, but this time due to an increase in
gas inside the separator, the pressure is larger.
Effect of Assumptions
1. It was assumed that the volume in the separator is constant. This assumption
shouldnt have any effects on the model as it is a very realistic assumption
due to the separator being a closed tank
2. It was assumed that the liquid density is constant. This too is a valid
assumption that shouldnt have much effects on the model, as the density of
the liquid increases with increase in pressure and temperature. The
temperature was assumed to be constant, and the seprator operates at
constant pressure, and when a step change was introduced, the pressure
changed by a maximum of 1.6 bar, but this pressure increase is not likely to
have a big effect on the density of the liquid as it is not a very large pressure
increase.
3. It was assumed that the temperature in the separator is constant. This
assumption has some defects in it, as the temperature will most likely change
due to heat losses to the surroundings as the system is not closed. The liquid
and gas both have different temperatures so are unlikely to be both uniform
at 400K, especially when a step change is introduced as that changes the
volume of liquid/gas in the separator so the temperature will change too. A
way to improve the system is to include a heat exchanger to maintain
constant temperature, or take the energy balances into consideration
The temperature change will not be very high to the extent that the density
of the liquid will significantly change, hence the assumption of constant liquid
density is still valid.
4. It was assumed that the gas phase is ideal. This assumption is valid at low
temperatures and pressures, however, the temperature in the separator is to
be kept constant at 400K, and this is not a low temperature. Also, the
pressure in the seprator is 75 bar and increases after a step change, hence
this assumption is invalid as the both the temperature and pressure are high,
therefore compressibility can not be assumed to have a value of 1. A way to
overcome this problem is to represent a gas not in ideal conditions using Van
der Waals equation or other methods.
5. It was assumed that the outlet velocities of the gas and liquid depend on the
pressure drop over the pipes from the separator to the reservoirs. This
assumption introduces a problem when there is a step change, as after the
step change, the pressure inside the separator increases, therefore the
pressure drop will change too, causing a change in the outlet velocity which
was not taken into consideration in this model

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen

Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be noted that not all assumptions are valid and other factors
need to be taken into account to ensure the model is close to accuracy. Also, it can
be seen that controllers are definitely needed in the system as a step change will
cause the system to eventually reach instability due to the separator being filled with
liquid or emptied from the liquid, therefore controllers are required to ensure this
doesnt happen.

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Nomenclature:
Mass of liquid (kg)
Mass flowrate of liquid in (kg/s)
Mass flowrate of liquid out (kg/s)
Liquid volume (m3)
density of liquid (kg/m3)
velocity of liquid (m3/s)
Cross-sectional area of liquid pipe (m2)
Pressure drop in liquid (Pa)
Resistance coefficient for liquid pipe
Pressure drop in gas (Pa)
Resistance coefficient for gas pipe
density of gas (kg/m3)
velocity of gas (m3/s)
Cross-sectional area of gas pipe (m2)
Pressure of gas in the cylinder (Pa)
Acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)
height of liquid in cylinder (m)
Pressure in liquid reservoir (Pa)
Cross-sectional area of the separator (m2)
Mass of lgas (kg)
Mass flowrate of gas in (kg/s)
Mass flowrate of gas out (kg/s)
Temperature (K)
Universal gas constant (m3Pa/Kmol)
Volume of gas (m3)
Molecular weight of gas (g/mol)

Dr Sorensen

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Appendix:

Dr Sorensen

Ibrahim Al-Tamimy

APMD, Coursework 2

Dr Sorensen