Increasingly we are being asked by facility owners and operators to independently assess systems which have been designed and built by a single contractor.
We would encourage any system owner to consider having an independent surge analysis undertaken on a system which has been designed and built by a single contractor. We often raise concerns when a single organisation designs and builds a system under a fixed price contract due to the vested interest in providing a design which minimises capital expenditure and construction costs.
These cost reductions may simply involve using inadequate pipe supports but it can also include reducing pipework diameters which will generate higher system velocities with an inevitable side effect of higher surge pressures (surge pressures are directly related to velocity). We have been asked on a number of occasions to independently review surge studies which have been carried out by other organisations, due to perceived uncertainties with the vapour handling techniques of their software packages.
