Report addresses safety-critical sealing
A
BHR Group product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 21, 2006
Guidelines address the safety critical aspects of the design and operation of elastomeric seals in the aggressive high-pressure environments in the oil and gas industry.
In sponsoring the generation of guidelines for design and operation of high pressure gas sealing systems liable to damage by rapid gas decompression, the HSE has provided a structured approach to address the safety critical aspects of the design and operation of elastomeric seals in the aggressive high-pressure environments in the oil and gas industry.
Compiled by BHR Group the information is practical and highly structured in nature.
It draws on the testing, field experience and predictive computer modelling generated over the past 15 years from the industrially sponsored projects Elasteq and MODES (modelling of explosive decompression in seals).
All seals degrade and deform over time depending on the material, operating environment and installation design stresses.
Damage caused by RGD occurs when seals that have been exposed to gases at elevated pressures are suddenly depressurised.
Gas, which has migrated into the elastomer matrix, attempts to turn from a liquid to a gas, normally within the small voids inside the seal.
This induces high internal stresses that can lead to damage ranging from fatigue cracking over a series of subcritical events, surface blistering to multiple fracturing of the seal resulting in total containment failure.
The aims of the guidelines are to raise awareness of this phenomenon and widen the knowledge base, which has previously been restricted to materials specialists within the industry.
The target audiences are design and operations engineers in the oil majors, equipment suppliers, seal manufacturing companies and engineering contractors.
RGD events have been proven to cause significant numbers of seal failures leading to lengthy shutdowns on complete platform systems for safety reasons and extensive equipment maintenance.
This has involved operators in major expense and lost production.
With the move towards hotter deeper wells with elevated H2S and CO2 content there is likely to be an increasing requirement to design for RGD scenarios.
It is hoped that use of these guidelines will aid in the identification of areas of concern and avoid potentially hazardous failures.
The report can be downloaded in PDF form from both the HSE and BHR Group websites.
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