Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Gas and Vapor

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

UN-DOT
Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations
Hydrogen
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

Adiabatic Calorimetry
Data demonstrate the consequences of process upsets, such as failed equipment or improper procedures, and guide mitigation strategies including Emergency Relief System (ERS) design
Reaction Calorimetry
Data yield heat and gas removal requirements to control the desired process chemistry
Battery Safety

Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Cable Testing
Evaluate electrical cables to demonstrate reliability and identify defects or degradation
Equipment Qualification (EQ)
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Water Hammer
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent unwanted hydraulic pressure transients in process piping
Acoustic Vibration
Identify and eliminate potential sources of unwanted vibration in piping and structural systems
Gas & Air Intrusion
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent intrusion of gas or air in piping systems
ISO/IEC 17025:2017

Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing

ISO 9001:2015
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO 9001:2015
Dust Hazards Analysis
Evaluate your process to identify combustible dust hazards and perform dust explosion testing
On-Site Risk Management
On-site safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up
DIERS Methodology
Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods
Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safely handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

FATE™ & Facility Modeling

FATE (Facility Flow, Aerosol, Thermal, and Explosion) is a flexible, fast-running code developed and maintained by Fauske and Associates under an ASME NQA-1 compliant QA program.

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical
Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid, flow, and electric power systems
Hydrogen Safety
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Thermal Hydraulics
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Nuclear Safety
Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant
Radioactive Waste
Safety analysis to underpin decomissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials
Adiabatic Safety Calorimeters (ARSST and VSP2)

Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

Other Lab Equipment and Parts for the DSC/ARC/ARSST/VSP2 Calorimeters

Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

FERST

Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

FATE

Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

Blog

Our highly experienced team keeps you up-to-date on the latest process safety developments.

Process Safety Newsletter

Stay informed with our quarterly Process Safety Newsletters sharing topical articles and practical advice.

Resources

With over 40 years of industry expertise, we have a wealth of process safety knowledge to share.

Recent Posts

Analysis of Condensation Induced Steam Waterhammer in BWR LPCI System

Posted by Fauske & Associates on 09.01.15

Most of the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Plant Technical Specifications require Low Pressure Coolant Injection (LPCI) to be operable in Modes 1, 2 and 3, with the allowance that LPCI may still be considered operable while operating in Shutdown Cooling (SDC) if it is capable of being manually aligned to the LPCI mode. There is a concern that the alignment of the RHR system to the Torus (or suppression pool) to mitigate a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) during SDC operation would cause steam void formation and collapse on the suction and discharge sides of the RHR pumps.

A study to characterize the steam waterhammer phenomena of a low pressure cooling injection (LPCI) system for a Mark 1 boiling water reactor (BWR) has been performed using RELAP5 during a transient event. The scenario of particular interest was a manual switchover from shutdown cooling mode 3 to low pressure injection due to a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). This transient was initiated by opening the isolation valves (MO-B1 and MO-D1) of the two trains on a LPCI system into the torus (see Figure 1).

simplified-schematic-of-rhr-loop

The torus was considered to be at atmospheric pressure and 68°F. The initial condition of the problem was set up such that the liquid was stagnant in the system. The initial temperature and pressure of the liquid, which was between the torus and isolation valves, was considered to be the same as the torus conditions. On the other hand, the initial condition of the liquid upstream of the isolation valves was chosen to be at 150 psia and near saturation temperature. The analysis showed that the liquid in the system flashed into steam and discharged into the torus after the isolation valves started to open. Discharge of steam continued until the pressure in the LPCI system reached to a hydrostatic equilibrium with the torus. Following this, the cold liquid from the torus began to reflood the LPCI piping while condensing the steam at the liquid-steam interphase. Figure 2 provides a pictorial presentation of the phenomena. These series of events caused a mild steam waterhammer event when all of the steam condensed in the piping segments with closed ends as shown in Figure 3. A sensitivity analysis showed that the magnitude of the steam waterhammer predicted by RELAP5 was sensitive to the number of nodes selected to model the piping, where the steam waterhammer phenomena occurred. Technical basis was obtained from the available literature and used as a guide to choose the number of nodes for the models in both codes. Once the steam waterhammer and the hydrodynamic properties associated with this transient were predicted by RELAP5, the forces exerted on critical pipe components were calculated using a one-dimensional momentum equation. Figure 4 shows the force, which was calculated on “B” Shutdown Cooling Line.

Steam waterhammer phenomena have been of major concern to the nuclear industry. This is because of the fact that large waterhammer pressure and hydrodaynamic loads can potentially be generated that will challenge the integrity of various piping systems if a strong steam waterhammer occurs. As a result of this, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) issued a generic letter, GL 96-06 (1996). All licensees are required to perform evaluations on various systems that are susceptible to steam waterhammer.

blow-down-re-flooding

cooling-line

Click Here For Analysis of Condensation Induced Steam Waterhammer in a BWR LPCI System PDF

#waterhammer#nuclearplant, #plant safety, #bwr, #piping systems, #nuclear plant, #nuclear industry

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