Relief Valve Sizing

Relief Valve Sizing – Two-Phase Flow, Standard Sizes

Two-Phase Flow
There are no precise formulas for calculating orifice area for twophase flow. The common convention is to calculate the area required for the gas flow as if there were no liquid present and the area required for
the liquid flow as if there were no gas present. The two areas are then added to approximate [...]

25Sep2009 | admin | Comments Off | Continued

Relief Valve Sizing – Flow Rate for Liquids

Conventional Valve, Balanced-Bellows Valve, or Pilot-Operated Valve
The corresponding equations for liquid flow are the following:

Note that a preliminary orifice size must be determined in order to calculate Reynolds number. If the viscosity correction is significant, it may be necessary to iterate to get a final size.

25Sep2009 | admin | Comments Off | Continued

Relief Valve Sizing – Flow Rate for Gas

The flow rate for gas through a given orifice area or the area required  for a given flow rate is obtained by:

25Sep2009 | admin | Comments Off | Continued

Relief Valve Sizing – Effects of Back-Pressure

Back-pressure can affect either the set pressure or the capacity of a relief valve. The set pressure is the pressure at which the relief valve begins to open. Capacity is the maximum flow rate that the relief valve will relieve. The set pressure for a conventional relief valve increases directly with back-pressure. Conventional valves can [...]

25Sep2009 | admin | Comments Off | Continued

Relief Valve Sizing – Critical Flow

The flow of a compressible fluid through an orifice is limited by critical flow. Critical flow is also referred to as choked flow, sonic flow, or Mach 1. It can occur at a restriction in a line such as a relief valve orifice
or a choke, where piping goes from a small branch into a larger [...]

25Sep2009 | admin | Comments Off | Continued