PROJECT PROFILE
Woodside Energy Ltd
Design and Detail of Butted Kettles
Karratha Gas Plant
CDMS designed kettle type heat exchangers for Woodside LNG Train IV for the
Karratha gas plant. As the heat exchangers were connected in pairs (butted), special
consideration had to be made for the design of tube sheets and supports.
OUTCOME
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Economic design, compliant with industry standard and client specific
requirements
Design proved successful in operation and was identically replicated for train V
at client’s request
BACKGROUND
The Karratha gas plant is located 1260km North of Perth and is operated by
Woodside Energy Ltd. It produces LNG, domestic gas, condensate and LPG.
Woodside was looking for suitably qualified engineering designers to execute the
design of kettle type heat exchangers for its LNG Train IV at Karratha gas plant. The
design was complex in nature and because of positive past experience Woodside
Energy awarded CDMS the design contract.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Woodside required CDMS to design the heat exchangers to comply with industry
standards and also incorporate client specifications, including design of supports
for transport.
CHALLENGES
Some of the challenges included the complex kettle shape of the shell and the
connections of the heat exchangers. The heat exchangers were connected in pairs
(butted), which affected the design of supports and tube sheets for load transfer, and
had to withstand temperatures as low as -46oC. CDMS also had to make special
considerations for the design of the external manifold, as the force of the attached
piping load onto the manifold was unusually high.
OUR APPROACH
CDMS calculated the combined shell stiffness of various diameters and used this
in the design of the tube bundle and tube sheet. The flexibility of the heads was
considered in the tube sheet design in order to reduce the load on the tube sheet,
resulting in an economic design.
CDMS then developed a complex structural model of two connected exchangers
to calculate the support reactions. The nozzle load effects were renegotiated in
conjunction with the client, which resulted in an economic but safe design.
The external manifolds were designed as per industry piping standards using pipe
flexibility analysis.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
A division of Midas Engineering Group
+61 8 9421 9060
[email protected]