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Velocity Head Limits

1) The document discusses limitations on control valve trim exit velocity head in gas applications and argues that limiting it to 480 kPa is overly conservative and expensive. 2) It presents an industry standard noise prediction method and notes that it does not recommend the 480 kPa velocity head limit. 3) Through examples, it demonstrates that trim exit velocity heads above 480 kPa can produce low noise, and velocities below 480 kPa can produce high noise if outlet Mach number is high. The key is keeping outlet Mach number below 0.4-0.5 for continuous operation.

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Mahesh Divakar
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1K views3 pages

Velocity Head Limits

1) The document discusses limitations on control valve trim exit velocity head in gas applications and argues that limiting it to 480 kPa is overly conservative and expensive. 2) It presents an industry standard noise prediction method and notes that it does not recommend the 480 kPa velocity head limit. 3) Through examples, it demonstrates that trim exit velocity heads above 480 kPa can produce low noise, and velocities below 480 kPa can produce high noise if outlet Mach number is high. The key is keeping outlet Mach number below 0.4-0.5 for continuous operation.

Uploaded by

Mahesh Divakar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Valve Noise Prediction vs.

Velocity Head Limitations


In Gas Applications
Author: Joseph Shahda - Principal Engineer
Masoneilan - Dresser, Inc.
February 2004

Abstract
In recent years, the control valve industry has seen an important debate about the validity of limiting
the valve trim exit velocity head to a maximum of 480 kPa in gas and steam applications. This
velocity limitation is assumed to provide an acceptable noise level and avoid problems that arise in
control valve gas and steam applications. However, in a very large number of applications, adopting
a velocity limiting approach may require the use of expensive multi-stage or multi-turn trim designs.
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that low noise levels can be achieved without following
this overly conservative and expensive trim exit velocity head limitation. Also, this article will show
that having a trim exit velocity head lower than 480 kPa will still generate a very high valve noise
level if the valve outlet Mach number is high.

Noise Prediction in Control Valves


The IEC 534-8-3 aerodynamic noise standard is the most widely used in the valve industry for noise
prediction in control valves. This standard calculates the stream power and the acoustical efficiency
factors at various flow regimes. IEC 534-8-3 identifies five flow regimes that are determined by the
relationship between various pressure parameters. This standard also provides methods to calculate the internal sound pressure, its corresponding peak frequency, the transmission loss, and the
A-weighted noise level at 1m (3 ft) downstream of the valve and 1m (3 ft) away from the pipe wall.
It is very important to note that this IEC standard does not recommend limiting the trim exit velocity
head to 480 kPa in order to achieve a low noise level in the valve.

Valve Trim Exit Velocity Head

For regime II through V the trim exit velocity is sonic, hence from equation 1 and 2 the trim exit
velocity head is given by:

Valve Outlet Mach Number


A very critical parameter in gas and steam applications is the valve outlet Mach number, which is
defined as the ratio of the fluid velocity at the valve outlet, to the sonic velocity in the fluid at the
given temperature. This is a very important parameter in determining not only the noise level in the
valve, but also the potential for vibration in the valve/pipe system and potential for erosion damage
to the body if the outlet Mach number is high. Typically a control valve body has a close resonance
frequency to the pipe system. Therefore, a high outlet Mach number can generate a frequency that
will match the valve/pipe system resonance frequency and this will lead to vibration. Unfortunately,
the trim exit velocity head alone is not a good predictor of such an important phenomena. For
superheated steam and clean gas, a valve outlet Mach number below 0.4 is recommended for
continuous operation and below 0.5 for intermittent operation. Keeping the Mach number low will
result in a low noise level and will eliminate the potential for vibration problems in the valve/pipe
system. The maximum valve outlet velocity should be limited to Mach 0.3 for saturated steam, due
to the thermodynamic properties of the fluid. A very small decrease in the temperature of saturated
steam may lead to the formation of liquid droplets within the steam and this will be extremely erosive
at high velocities.

Examples
Below are two examples that will illustrate the validity of the arguments made above. The first
example will demonstrate that for some applications, when the trim exit velocity head exceeds 480
kPa, the valve can still generate a low noise level. The second example will show that for some
other applications having a trim exit velocity head lower than 480 kPa but a high Mach number the
valve will generate a very high noise level.

Example 1:
Consider an application with 30000 kg/hr of air at 100 C. The valve inlet pressure is 30 bar (a) and
its outlet pressure is 12 bar (a). According to IEC 534-3-8, this application is represented by flow
regime IV. Now consider a 4" globe style valve with single stage drilled hole cage. For the service
conditions given above, the noise level generated by the 4" valve is approximately 85 dBA with an
8" outlet pipe schedule 40. The trim exit velocity is sonic and it is equal to 337 m/s from Equation 2.
The air density at the trim outlet is 11.17 kg/m3. From Equation 3, the trim exit velocity head is
equal to 836 kPa. The valve outlet Mach number is approximately 0.24.

(example 1 continued)

Thus, the example above demonstrates that a 4" globe valve with a single stage drilled hole cage
can achieve a low noise level despite the fact that the trim exit velocity head is much greater than
the 480 kPa limitations that some valve manufacturers advocate. The valve solution described
above is technically excellent and very economical compared to a 4" valve with a torturous multistage trim.

Example 2:
Consider an application with 50000 kg/hr of air at 100 C. The valve inlet pressure is 50 bar (a) and
its outlet pressure is 3 bar (a). From these service conditions the required Cv=62. Thus, consider a
6" globe style valve with a torturous path, with 24 stages, rated Cv=70. The outlet pipe is 8"
schedule 40. For the given service conditions, the last turn in the trim has an exit velocity of 233
m/s and the fluid outlet density is 2.8 kg/m3. Thus per equation 1, the trim exit velocity head is 76
kPa, well below the maximum limitation of 480 kPa. However, despite this very low trim exit velocity
head, the valve noise level is 98 dBA because the valve outlet Mach number is 0.78. Now, take the
same exact trim and install it in an 8" globe style valve. In this case the valve outlet Mach number is
0.4 and the valve noise level is approximately 85 dBA.
This example demonstrates that a low trim exit velocity head does not result in a low noise level in
the valve, unless the valve outlet Mach number is low. It is also noteworthy to mention that for the
same application, an 8" globe style valve with two drilled holed cages is an excellent solution for the
application above since it will generate a noise level of 80 dBA. These two drilled holed cages are
much less expensive than the 24 turn torturous path trim.

Conclusion
Limiting the trim exit velocity head to a maximum of 480 kPa is not practical in a large number of
steam and gas applications. As demonstrated above, this approach can be overly conservative in
many gas applications and it can be insufficient to ensure low valve noise level in others. Low noise
level can be achieved with trim that has an exit velocity head higher than 480 KPa. On the other
hand, a valve trim exit velocity head lower than 480 kPa will have a very high noise level if the valve
outlet Mach number is not low. When providing a control valve solution for gas applications, it is
very important not to be bound by the trim exit velocity head limitation, but rather provide the valve
that gives: low noise levels, a low outlet Mach number, and is the most economical solution
available.

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