전산 해석을 통한 안전밸브 구조 최적화 연구

Abstract

The safety valve is an essential device for high-pressure equipment; because high-pressure equipment is used in many fields, the use of safety valves is also increasing. Safety valves are used in various fields such as the petroleum industry, power plants, and nuclear power industries. In the 19th century, many boiler explosion accidents occurred due to improper boiler design or the failure of safety valves used in boilers. These incidents drew the attention of the US government, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) enacted the first ASME code for safety valves in response to government requirements. A safety valve is a device used to protect high-pressure systems and people from accidents, and because of its importance, many related studies have been conducted, and related standards are continuously being updated.<BR> In actual safety valve experiments, it is difficult to observe the characteristics of fluid flow. In this study, the opening process of a safety valve under high pressure was studied using a simulation method. Analysis was conducted using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics and the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) technique. The FSI is calculated by reflecting the interaction between a structure and fluid and is a suitable method for analyzing the safety valve operation process. Two shapes that can reduce flow resistance were designed by analyzing the simulation results and the same flow analysis was performed on these shapes. By comparing the proposed shape’s simulation results with those of existing shapes, it was confirmed that the pressure loss was reduced in the improved method, and the flow rate was further increased due to a relatively low pressure loss. This means that the fluid inside the pressure vessel can be discharged faster and the pressure can be lowered faster, so it was determined that the improved shape safety valve showed better performance.