BY KEN ATKINS AND JIM TISON . ENGINEERING DYNAMICS, INC.

I I !h"n r"ries of six main was made to

lflf " pumps were expe-
oil line identify tbe root
f f iencing severe vibration causels) of the
I f oroblems. a solution was Date Problem failures. A
needed. These pumps were il- July 15 P350 Replace O/B Seal sketch of the
stalled on two large oil platforms Gauge Failure Bourdon Tube pump is shown
luly zz
as part of a simultaneous drilling Gauge Failure BourdoD Tube in Figure 1.
July 30
and production prograrn in an Bearing housing
August 14 P350 Replaced O/B Seal
offshore oil field. The pumps erpe- vibration levels
November 30 P350 Drive Coupling Failed
rienced high vibration and noise were measured
December I P340 Replaced I/B Seai
using acclerom-
levels and were generally r.uueliable
December 6 Sensing Line Failure eters, as well as
with numerous seal failures as well
as failures of the attached small bore December l0 Sensing Line Failure shaft-relative-to-
piping and gage lines. Decembe! 21 Sensing Line Failure housing vibra-
The root cause of the failues was Decernber 22 P350 Retube Lines tions levels us-
identfied as an acoustic resonance of January 5 P34O Replaced UB Seal ing non-contact-
the pump intemals excited by blade February I P350 Replace Flex Hoses ing proximity
pass frequenry. the solution was to Suction Transm. + S/D Swirch probes. Pressure
change the number of impeler vanes, February 20 SuctioD Transm. Plobleh taPs were rn-
which was relatively simple corn- P34O Replace UB Seal stalled in the
pared to other options investigated. March 11 Sensing Line Failure suction and
April 6 P350 Replace O/B Seal discharge piping
\8KGBoUro as well as the
May 2 Repair Transmitters
The pumps were single stage, Pump case.
June 8 MOL Pump Temp Recorder Failed
double volute, double suction Piping vibration
centrifugal machines. The nominal JuDe t3 P350 Replaced I/B Seal
and sound pres-
Julre 14 P350 Switch fo! O/B Seal Failure
impeller diameter was 13 inches, sure level mea-
with an eight-inch diameter inlet July 12 P340 Replaced O/B Seal suremenrs were
nozzle and a six-inch diameter July 14 P350 Suction Body Bleed Valve also made. All of
discharge nozde. They were these data were
driven by gas turbines through a As a means of reducing the acquired over the operating speed
speed reducing gear. The turbines pulsation levels generated by the range of the pumps.
were rated for 1100 horsepower at pump, the impeller to cutwater In addition to the operathg
a pump speed of 6000 rpm with a clearance was increased by trim- vibration, noise, and pulsation data,
developed head of 1800 ft. The ming the cutwater, This was sug' impact tests of the bearhg housing
desired operating speed range was gested by the pump manu{acturer structure and various piping com-
80 to 100 percent {4800-6000 rpm). ard resulted in a marked reduction ponents were conducted with the
When ihe pumps were first in the audible noise. However, the pumps shut down to identify me-
installed, Iow production rates seal and piping failures persisted chanical natural f requencies.
resulted in low operating speeds when the pumps were operated in The bearing housing vibration
and relatively trouble-free opera- the upper end of the speed range. spectra were Plotted versus pump
tion. As production rates in- Various piping modifi cations speed in a speed rastor {cascadel
creased, the pumps were required were made to reduce the pipillg format as shown in Figure 2. Two
to operate at higher speeds and thermal stresses and pump nozzle resonant frequencies were excited
were found to produce excessive loads due to the thermal growth of by blade pass frequency {5x run-
noise and vibration in the 5500- tbe suctioa and discharge piping. ning speed| as shown. The noise
6000 rpm range. Cbronic seal This did not resolve the failwe prob- levels near the pump showed simi-
failures were experienced as well lems, and the pump became an lar spectral content. Initially, it was
as fatigue failures of the attached induslrial relations and safety issue. not known if these frequencies
small bore piping and instrument At this point, puchashg new pumps were mechanical natural frequen-
tubing. A chronology of the prob was given strong consideration. cies or acoustic natural frequencies.
lems experienced on one of the The discharge pulsation data indi-
platforms over a one-year period is FIETD IIIUESIIGATIOI{ cated that these were acoustic reso-
shown in the table above. A detailed field investigation nances- Impact tests with the PumP

JANUARY 1993 PU rPS AxD SYSltfirS AGAZ|NI

'I4
 ence in the
pump lnter-
nal dimen-
sion might
exist.
For this
reasonl a
test was
made with
an orifice
installed in
the dis-
charge
flange of
one pump.
This dis-
charge was
on a 6' line,
therefore an
orifice of 3'
was chosen
srnce a or-
ameter ratio of 2:1 usually results
shut down verified that mechanical in a noticeable change. A compari-
natural frequencies of the pump son of the discharge pulsation with
components (i.e., bearing housings, and without the orifice is shown in
shaft, etc.l were not involved. Figue 4. The two spectra plotted in
The discharge pulsation data Figure 4 are 'peak-hold' spectra.
from the same speed run was also This rneans that the maximum
processed using a backing filter to amplitude at each frequenry is
plot amplitude and phase of the 5x stored dwing the chosen sample
running speed vibration versus time. For this plot, the analyzer was
frequency {Bode plot). This data,
shown in Figure 3, ciearly ident!
fied two response peaks which
represented the acousric natural
frequencies of the system. Note that
the peak amplitudes for this pump
were 90-140 psi (p.p), which was
considered excessive in the 550 psig
=
o_
o. 6000
discharge piping. Similar data from
other pumps showed pulsation
levels in excess of 185 psi (p-pl. ,- EEAN
The acoustic natural frequen- U)
cies were simiiar irl all six pumps
tested. T\,rro modes were found E 5000
within the operating speed range.
Each pump seemed to have a pre-
dominant response peak near 450- 4500
480 Hz range that appeared to be
independent of the attached piping.
Additional resonances in the 250-
410 Hz range appeared to be influ.
enced by the attached piping,
which varied slightly from pump to
pump. The fact that the frequencies
were different on some Dumps
indicated that the attach;d piping
configuration had some influence
on these modes. or that some differ-
PUMPS Al|O SYSIEMS MAGAZINE
allowed to sample the pulsation
data as the speed was varied from
4000-5850 rpm. The data was then
rqrcated with the orfice installed.
During the speed range of 4000-5850
rpm (67 to 98% speed), the BPF
raages from 333488 Hz as noted on
Figure 4. The effect of the orfice was
to lower the 6rst mode from approxi-
mately 380 Hz to 34.0 Hz and atteDu-
ate the amplihrde of the 45O Hz mode
from 14O psi (pp) to 50 psi (ppl.
This was a significant improve-
ment in the blade pass frequency
pulsation and related vibration.
Unfortunately, the restriction in the
discharge lile caused excessive
pressute drop which could not be
tolerated for long-term operation.
Therefore, it was recommended
that the orifice be removed-
In order to solve the acoustic
resonance problem, either the
acoustic natural frequency or the
excitation freouencv had to be
changed. Beciuse of the difficulty
in identifying the complex acoustic
mode shapes, the most practical
solution appeared to be changing
the blade passing frequency of the
pump by changing the number of
imoeiler vanes.
Bearing Housing Vibration {ips, O.pl
s-vane 7-rone
0.83 o.t2
0.35 0.o4
o.Lz o.o2
o.04 0.04
JANUARY 1993 45

,-]|loH!
*"1/i il
0 200 400 600 800
Frequency - Hz
sourTt01{
An interference diagram was
constructed as shown in Figure 5 to
evaluate the acoustic resonances.
This shows the relationship be-
tween the excitation frequencies
and the acoustic natural frequen-
cies. The range of acoustic natural
frequencies measured was 350 Hz
Fisue 5. This lLre does not intersect
thi cross-hatched area, which indi-
cates that the acoustic natural fre-
quencies would not be excited within
the desired operating speed range, if a
seven-vane imlrller were used.
The oump manufacturer was
able to supply seven-vane lmpellers
for the pumps, which resulted in
significant reductions in overall
vibration and noise levels. The
detaiied pulsation and vibration
tests were not repeated after the
seven-vane impellers were in-
46 .IANLTARV 1993
800
o-
^^^
-o ouu
(L
o
,400
5
1 200 400 600
to 480 Hz and is represented by the
horizontal lines in the figure. The
desired operating speed from the
pumps was 4800 to 6000 rpm and
is represented by the vertical lines
as noted. The intersections of tle
horizontal and vertical lines de-
velop the cross-hatched rectangle,
which is the area that should be
stalled, since the iml,.rc" e:-ent was
evident. HL-.r'i" i: :':::: :::111
bearing housir,g .::::'':-.. .ls
were availabie beio:3 an.: :i'r: ::'.e
modifications (Table i Tr:-.e
pumps have operated reiraolv i!.
seven -vears as of this \{::-.:19 witi
cnclE REAoE8 SEEVIC! 10. l!c
800
Frequency - Hz
avoided by any system excitation
frequency. The blade pass fre-
quenry {5x running speed} excita-
tion is represented by the upward
sloping diagonal iine in Figure 5. 11
intersects the cross-hatched area.
The blade pass frequency excitation
line for a seven-vane impeller (7x
running speedj is also sho\^'n in
only routine maintenance required
T
Ken Athins b a Senior Project
Engineer at Engineeing Dynamics
Inc. He has more than 14 years expe-
-.etce in solving vibration and pulsa,
-: ': :,cblems.
PUMPS ANO SYSTEI{S I{AGAZIXE