Pulsation Energy in the Suction Manifold of a Reciprocating Compressor as a Measure for Parameter Sensitivity

Abstract

Gas pulsations in a compressor suction manifold radiate noise and reduce the efficiency of the compressor. The objective of this paper is to identify and quantify the effects of modeling assumptions and uncertainties in input parameters on the pulsation model output predictions and to estimate the sensitivity of the model to changes in the input design parameters. A unique method of sensitivity analysis is presented that uses the total pulsation energy in the suction manifold of a compressor as a measure of gas pulsations. This method is used to determine the sensitivity of the gas pulsations in the suction manifold to input design parameters. First, the gas pulsations in the suction manifold are calculated using linear acoustic theory. Second, the effects of varying several different design parameters of the suction manifold on gas pulsations are analyzed, and the three most important parameters are selected. Next, energy due to gas pulsations in the suction manifold due to these design parameter variations is calculated. Suction manifold radius was identified as the most critical parameter, followed by width and depth. The optimized values of manifold radius resulted in an overall reduction of up to 24% in the gas pulsation energy compared to the pulsation energy at the nominal design parameter values in the suction manifold.