Numerical Simulation on Fluid Dynamic Behavior of

High-pressure Safety Valves

De-Fu Li, Xin-Lin Xia, Gui-Long Dai, Li-Ming Ruan
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology
No.92, West Dazhi Street
Harbin, China
hitlidefu@163.com, xiaxl@hit.edu.cn
AbstractThis investigation focuses on the numerical analysis of
the dynamic behavior of a high-pressure safety valve. A threedimensional compressible flow model and the RNG k
turbulence model are used to obtain the flow and thermal fields.
The equations that govern the flow and heat transfer processes
are solved by the finite volume method. The dynamic behavior
has been presented by analyzing the complex flow which the
velocity is locally supersonic and the thermal properties such as
density, dynamic viscosity, and thermal conductivity of
superheated steam are functions of pressure and temperature.
The results show that the axial force exerted by the fluid on the
valve clack first decreases with the increase of the valve opening
and then increases.
Keywords-safety valve; high-pressure; fluid dynamic behavior;
superheated steam; numerical simulation

I.

INTRODUCTION

High-pressure spring-loaded safety valves play an

important part in various industries. They open when the inlet
pressure exceeds a certain pressure value, thus releasing the
fluid to maintain the inlet pressure below a design value [1]. It
is important to investigate the dynamic behavior of these safety
valves in the design of overpressure systems. In order to study
the dynamic behavior, it is necessary to understand the flow
and temperature fields of safety valves.
Many researches on internal flow of relief valves have
been made [1-6]. Singh developed a one-dimensional
analytical model to study the effects of different valve
parameters which influence the dynamic behavior and stability
of the safety valve [1]. He analyzed the effects of these
parameters on the valve opening time, maximum lift,
blowdown and any oscillations of the valve stern. Bilanin and
Teske applied the compressible Navier-Stokes equations to a
spring-loaded safety valve and compared this with a simplified
modeling approach [2]. Amano and Draxler presented a study
of steam flow behavior through a high-pressure turbine bypass
valve when it suffers a high-pressure reduction in an electricpower-plant cogenerator system [3]. They mainly directed at
investigating the process of steam flow and property variations
of the bypass valve as well as at obtaining correlations
between the flow rate and the valve opening ratio. They also
analyzed the temperature distribution for three valve opening
cases. Dempster and Lee investigated the valve characteristics
for a conventional spring operated safety relief valve
designed for gases operating between 10 and 30 bar [4]. They

analyzed the compressible flow through the safety relief valve

and conducted experimental testing of the piston force, mass
flow and back pressure. In reference [5], the hydrodynamic
characteristics of safety valve were analyzed based on CFD
calculation. The relation of different static inlet pressures to
the axial force acting on the valve clack was attained. Srikanth
and Bhasker numerically investigated the compressible air
flow in a typical puffer chamber with valve [6]. They found
that the variations in pressure history were significantly
affected by the velocity of moving contact in the puffer
chamber.
The previous analysis of safety valves is focused mainly on
the flow field and the dynamic behavior. The parameters such
as the inlet pressure, the axial force, the spring stiffness and the
initial spring compression which influence on the dynamic
behavior of safety valves have not given much attention. The
objective of this study is to analyze the fluid dynamic behavior
and the thermal field of a high-pressure safety valve. The mass
flow rate, the velocity distribution, the temperature field and
the dynamic behavior are obtained. The results will be a useful
database for the design of high-pressure safety valves.
II.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM

A. Mathematical Formulation
Fig. 1 represents a high-pressure safety valve, with the inlet,
the outlet, the valve clack, the valve body and the seat. The
spring that keeps the valve open in normal operation is not
shown in this figure. High-pressure and high-temperature
steam enters the safety valve through the inlet. In this case,
fluid domain can be considered as 3D symmetric because of its
symmetric configuration.
The universal equation governing the present system can
be expressed as
G
div ( U ) = div ( grad ) + S
(1)
G
where, is the density of superheated steam; U is the
velocity vector; is an arbitrary transport variable;
represents the diffusion coefficient; S represents the source.

Turbulence is modeled by the RNG k turbulence

closure. , and S are shown in TABLE I. is the
dynamic viscosity of gas. Pr is the Prandtl number of steam.

978-1-4244-4813-5/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE

Outlet

Valve clack

Valve body
Figure 2. The computational grid of the symmetry plane

Different pressure values are specified on the inlet and

outlet surfaces. After calculating the mass flow rate, the
calculated mass flow rate value is specified on the outlet
surface and the corresponding pressure value is specified on
the inlet surface. The walls of the safety valve are adiabatic.
No slip boundary conditions are used for the wall surfaces. On
the symmetry plane, the scalar variables are set to zero, the
scalar variable gradients normal to the boundary are also set to
zero.

Symmetry plane

Seat

Inlet

Figure 1. High-pressure safety valve

TABLE I.

EXPRESSIONS FOR THE UNIVERSAL EQUATION

and

Equation

continuity

x-momentum

eff

y-momentum

eff

z-momentum

eff

energy

/ Pr + t / T

turbulent
kinetic
energy

k ( + t )

dissipation
rate

( + t )

III.

p 1
+
( eff divuG )
x 3 x
p 1
+
( eff divuG )
y 3 y
p 1
G
eff divu )
+
(
z 3 z

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

All results on the high-pressure safety valve are for

superheated steam.

Gk YM
C1

Gk C2*

2
k

(a) 40% open

B. Numerical Method
For the numerical solution of the governing equations, the
primitive variable approach is adopted. The spatial derivatives
in the equations are discretized using the finite-volume method.
A second order upwind scheme is employed to estimate the
flux on the control volume surfaces. A coupled solver is used
to solve the equations.

The IAPWS-IF97 database is used to calculate the physical

properties of superheated steam [7].
The aim of this work is to calculate the flow fate, the force
and the temperature distribution for different opening of the
valve clack. Therefore, several meshes, corresponding to
different possible values of the opening of the valve clack are
given. One of the computational grids on the symmetry plane
is shown in Fig. 2: the used three dimensional grids are
unstructured, and prism grids have been primarily realized on
the wall.

(b) 80% open

Figure 3. Pressure distribution on the symmetry plane

The static pressure, the velocity vector, the Mach number

and the temperature distribution on the symmetry plane for
different valve opening cases when the inlet pressure is
1.92 107 Pa are shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.

due to the largest pressure drop. A vortex occurs at the bottom

of the valve body where the pressure is low.

(a) 40% open

(a) 40% open

(b) 80% open

Figure 4. Velocity vector on the symmetry plane
(b) 80% open
Figure 6. Temperature distribution on the symmetry plane
60

MF (kg/s)

50

(a) 40% open

40
30

pin =19.0MPa
pin =19.2MPa

20

pin =19.69MPa

10
0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Figure 7. Variation of mass flow rate as a function of valve opening

The flow is subsonic in most part of the zones, as can be

seen in Fig. 5. The only places where the flow becomes
supersonic are near the exit of the valve clack. At these
locations the Mach number exceeds 1.0 and the largest Mach
number can reach ~1.58.
(b) 80% open
Figure 5. Mach number on the symmetry plane

As can be seen from Fig. 3, the largest pressure drop

occurs through the valve clack. The pressure stays basically
constant at the downstream of the valve clack exit. Fig. 4
shows that the maximum velocity occurs near the valve clack

From Fig. 6, it can be seen that the highest temperature

occurs at the inlet region for 40% open and 80% open. The
lowest temperature occurs near the valve clack.
The mass flow rate as a function of the valve opening is
given in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the mass flow rate increases
with the valve opening. The mass flow rate increases with inlet

pressure, see Fig. 8, which provides the mass flow rate as a

function of inlet pressure for 100% open.
Fig. 9 gives the variation of the axial force exerted by the
fluid on the valve clack for three different inlet pressure values
during the valve opening processes. With the increase of the
valve opening, the axial force decreases initially and then
increases.

The axial force exerted by the fluid on the valve clack ( Fz )

and the spring force( Ft ) are shown in Fig. 11. Based on Fig.
11, we can obtain the corresponding values of the inlet
pressure, axial force, spring stiffness and initial spring
compression. For example, the axial force is 135 kN, the
spring stiffness is 2.85 kN/mm and the initial spring
compression t is 35.0 mm when the inlet pressure is
1.875 107 Pa .

54

p in (1 0 P a)

53
1 .7

49

140

13 0

130

46

12 0

120
Fz

11 0

F t ( t = 3 0 .0 m m )
F t ( t = 3 2 .5 m m )

10 0

47
17.5

18.0

18.5

19.0

19.5

90
2.4

20.0

F t ( t = 3 5 .0 m m )

2 .5

2.6

2 .7

Figure 8. Variation of mass flow rate with pressure for 100% open
148
146
144
142
140
138
136
134
132
130
128
126
124
0.0

pin =19.2MPa
pin =19.69MPa

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

140

[2]

134

[3]

132
130
128

[4]

126
124
17.5

18.0

18.5

19.0

19.5

20.0

pin (MPa)

Figure 10. Variation of axial force with pressure for 100% open

Fig. 10 shows the axial force as a function of inlet pressure

for 100% open. We can see that the axial force increases with
the inlet pressure. The increment rate is reduced when the inlet
pressure exceeds 1.92 107 Pa .

90
3.1

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES
[1]

136

3 .0

The axial force, the mass flow rate, the flow and
temperature fields of a high-pressure safety valve during the
opening process have been gained through the complete
numerical analysis. The analysis has been realized at different
inlet pressure values. The results show that the largest pressure
drop occurs near the valve clack. The flow is subsonic in most
part of the zones except near the exit of the valve clack where
the flow becomes supersonic and the largest Mach number can
reach ~1.58. With the increase of the valve opening, the axial
force decreases initially and then increases.

Figure 9. Variation of axial force with valve opening

138

2 .9

100

Figure 11. Variation of axial force with pressure and variation of spring force
with spring stiffness for 100% open

IV.

pin =19.0MPa

2 .8

110

k (k N /m m )

pin (MPa)

Fz (kN)

2.0

Ft (kN)

50

48

Fz (kN)

1 .9

14 0

51

Fz (kN)

MF (kg/s)

52

1 .8

[5]

[6]

[7]

A. Singh, An analytical study of the dynamics and stability of a spring

loaded safety valve, Nuclear Engineering and Design, vol. 72, 1982,
pp. 197-204.
A. J. Bilanin, M. E. Teske, Modeling flow through spring loaded
safety valves, ASME PVP Conference 1990, vol. 190, pp. 29-36
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bypass valve system Part 1: valve flow, Journal of Propulsion and
Power, vol. 18, 2002, pp. 555-560.
W. Dempster, C. K. Lee, Prediction of the flow and force
characteristics of safety relief valves, 2006 ASME Pressure Vessels
and Piping Division Conference, PVP2006-ICPVT-11-93142, July,
2006.
J. Feng, M. L. Zhang, T. C. Huang, Study on hydrodynamic
characteristics of safety valve based on CFD calculation, Nuclear
Power Engineering, vol. 28, 2007, pp. 31-35.
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through CFD techniques, Advances in Engineering Software, vol. 40,
2009, pp. 193-201.
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Properties of Water and Steam, Springer, Berlin, 1998.