AFT Blog

When evaluating the hydraulic behavior of aged pipelines and/or pipelines that are exposed to particularly corrosive or dirty fluids, building and running a hydraulic model is a great first step, but more engineering may be required. This is because, over time, residue in the pipeline fluid can buildup in the pipeline and essentially decrease the pipe inner diameter while increasing the roughness of the pipe’s inner surface. Corrosion can also change the roughness of the pipe’s inner surface. Engineers know that these changes due to buildup and corrosion in the pipes can significantly affect the hydraulics of the system, so while building a hydraulic model of the system is essential to evaluate its behavior, calibrating the model to account for these changes can be just as important in getting an accurate representation of your system. AFT Fathom and AFT Arrow offer a goal seeking module to assist with this calibration process with one data set of flow data. To understand how this can be done, visit Dylan’s blog. My blog here will take Dylan’s discussion one step further and discuss how AFT Fathom and AFT Arrow can be used to calibrate a hydraulic model with not just one but with multiple data sets using the GSC (Goal Seek and Control) module.

AFT Fathom provides a Three Way Valve which increases the Engineer’s capability to model system control. The Three Way Valve Properties Window shows the three connecting pipes in drop-down lists, which allows users to specify which pipe is the combined flow pipe, and which two are the split flow pipes. By entering the loss profile through each flow path, and then by selecting the actual percent open, Fathom will calculate the actual loss values for each flow path. Using the Three Way Valve in conjunction with the Goal Seek & Control module (GSC) increases the Engineer’s capability to model I&C logic...