Symmetry flare

The Flare workspace in Symmetry empowers users to verify safety systems completely, efficiently, and rigorously. Models built in this integrated software are delivered faster, analyzed in steady state and dynamics, and easily maintained to match operation. This translates to shorter schedules for feasibility studies, reductions in CAPEX for both new designs and retrofit projects, and readiness for safety audits.

Uniquely Integrated Approach

Symmetry Flare is the first software that can model the complete flare system including scenario management, relief valve sizing, rating, and installation, header hydraulic calculations, and flare safety performance. The consistent interface, fluid model, and automatic data propagation avoid compromise on quality assurance or maintainability.

Moreover, there is no need to import process data. Symmetry process simulation software can model any facility in the Process workspace in steady-state or dynamics. Process models can span a gathering network through gas processing and refining facilities. You can simulate the entire scope at once without error-prone data transfer, and use the process model to calculate conditions for relief scenarios including overpressure events, operational flaring and blowdown.

Rigorous Design on Limiting Scenarios

Combine steady-state and dynamic analysis as needed. Model a process in steady-state to calculate conservative required relief rates. Run the header network in steady-state to automatically verify safe operation for all relief scenarios - checking constraints on relief valves, piping, and the flare simultaneously.

Focus on limiting scenarios, where replacing steady-state conservative assumptions with rigorous dynamic simulation may result in significant savings and improved process understanding. Transition the process model to dynamics to calculate peak relief flows for these scenarios, then you can even connect the dynamic process directly to a dynamic flare header. You can model any scenario in dynamics including detailed blowdown/depressuring studies, fire with built-in heat input calculations (including radiant heat transfer), equipment or utility system failures, start up, shutdown, and operating procedures.

A variety of sequencing and control tools, including an event scheduler, a cause and effect matrix, and control scheme modeling, offer complete modeling flexibility and ensure reliability.

Flexible and Intuitive Solution

The Flare workspace offers capabilities to ensure a relief valve installation is safe across all scenarios. Valves may be modeled stand-alone, with piping, or with the header network. The sizing and selection workflow determines the governing scenario and evaluates capacity of the selected orifice size (API or ASME). It provides warnings for undersized valves and significantly oversized valves that may chatter. Users can verify maximum allowed backpressure (MABP) along with inlet and tailpipe constraints at design or rated flow.

Ensure Safe Design

Symmetry Flare takes safety design to the next level, performing advanced evaluation of the safety of flare operation as it affects personnel and the public. Analyze thermal radiation, noise, temperature of exposed objects, and flare gas dispersion using data from your network model across scenarios. Calculations are powered by Flaresim, the industry-standard thermal radiation software, now in Symmetry. Library

The Symmetry platform advantage means rigorous thermodynamics, proven engine, and an enhanced user experience

The industry-recognized thermodynamics engine VMG Thermo has now been migrated to the Symmetry platform Fluid Engine, which continues to enable accurate prediction of properties and consistent characterization across models.

The Symmetry platform PIONA characterization provides a greater degree of flexibility to accurately represent your fluids, and the seamless blending of fluids, on a consistent slate of components within a single thermodynamic model.

The steady-state, dynamics, and network solver engines have been used for decades to solve challenging industrial problems.

This experience of building these solvers has been incorporated into the development of the Symmetry Flare workspace including kinetic energy Accurate Fluid Characterization Carbon Number vs. Structure tracking in a steady-state network, smooth transition to dynamics as well as the ability to have a dynamic and steady-state version of a flare network in the same case.

The Symmetry platform contains a variety of features including case studies, emission monitoring, and a new equipment database that enables asset-wide insight and analysis

The Symmetry platform gives you the ability to model any process in steady state or dynamics. Integrated models can span a gathering network through gas-processing and refining facilities.

You can simulate the entire scope at once without error-prone data transfer and use the process model to identify relief scenarios including overpressure events, operational flaring, and blowdown.

The Symmetry platform enables you to combine steady-state and dynamics analysis in the same simulation as needed for each scenario. You can use steady state to quickly calculate required relief loads and then use dynamics to model items such as: peak flows, record or playback profiles, or connect directly to a dynamic flare header allowing for a deeper analysis of the capacity of the system.

Dynamics gives insight into the severity of constraint violations, including the duration of a violation and the real impact on equipment behavior. Taking into account system volumes and staggered relief times makes for a more realistic analysis and in many cases will result in conditions being farther from constraint violation or requiring less drastic (and expensive) upgrades to meet safety criteria.

The Symmetry platform’s dynamic capabilities provide the ability to model any relief scenario rigorously including detailed blowdown/ depressuring studies, fire scenarios with built-in heat input calculations (adding radiant heat transfer), equipment or utility system failures, startup, shutdown, and operating procedures. As is the case with steady state, the process and pipe workspaces can be seamless integrated into a dynamic flare scenario with the Symmetry Flare workspace for a comprehensive asset wide evaluation.

Relief Valves

The Symmetry Flare workspace offers a flexible, intuitive environment to ensure that relief valve design is safe across all scenarios. Valves may be modeled as stand alone, with piping, or with the header network.

The sizing and selection workflow determines the governing scenario and evaluates the capacity of the selected orifice size (API or ASME). It provides warnings for undersized valves and significantly oversized valves that may chatter. Inlet piping can be modeled to verify that inlet pressure losses will not cause stability issues: a steady-state model will check the 3% rule across all valves and scenarios.

Scenarios with potential issues can then be modeled rigorously dynamically to predict and avoid detrimental failures.

Users can verify maximum allowed backpressure (MABP) along with inlet and tailpipe constraints at design or rated flow.

Header Network

The Symmetry Flare workspace provides tools to verify a header network design across global scenarios. It is capable of solving complex networks including networks with loops and multiple stacks and tips, with full kinetic energy tracking in steady state and dynamics.

A rigorous analysis can be applied; use steady-state simulation to evaluate the worst case instance of simultaneous relief and then use dynamics simulation when the benefits of staggered flow may be significant.

Seamless integration lets you check valve constraints and sizing using network-calculated backpressure. Rigorous heat transfer calculation can be enabled to aid in brittle fracture, thermal contraction, or solid formation analysis.

Stack and Tip

The flare tip unit operation can be linked to Flaresim* flare systems design and analysis software, the flare radiation industry-standard software.

Verify the safety of your design by evaluating thermal radiation, noise, surface temperature of objects, and flare gas dispersion using data from your network model across different scenarios.

The Flaresim software integration allows scenarios of concern to be re-evaluated at any point in the relief system design, including changes to the process

For over 35 years, Flaresim software has been assisting engineers in the design and evaluation of flare systems, both onshore and offshore.

Used by more than 350 companies worldwide including consultants, flare system vendors, engineering and construction companies, and major operating companies.

Accurate modeling of thermal radiation, temperature, and noise footprints generated by flaring enables safe design and evaluation of the relief system.

Gas dispersion calculations are also available in Flaresim software to model flammability levels and dispersion of toxic pollutants and combustion products.

NExT Symmetry training courses

NExT offers a comprehensive training program to support users of the SLB software, plugins, and other software products.

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