Condensation Induced Water Hammer: Principles and Consequences | AIChE

Condensation Induced Water Hammer: Principles and Consequences

Type

Conference Presentation

Conference Type

AIChE Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety

Presentation Date

March 23, 2010

Duration

30 minutes

Skill Level

Intermediate

PDHs

0.50

An explosion occurred in the boiler room of a food processing plant as the steam generation system was coming online after a maintenance shutdown. The explosion shattered the case of the condensate return pump fatally injuring an employee, while another employee was burned by the escaping steam. The low-pressure saturated steam needed for the food processing plant was generated in a heat exchanger that used high-pressure exhaust steam from the turbine of a power plant. The resulting condensate was collected in a tank and pumped back to the power plant for reuse. The conclusion of the incident investigation was that the pump was destroyed by a condensation induced water hammer (CIWH) generated in the condensate return line; in this phenomenon, a volume of hot steam can get trapped by subcooled liquid, generating high-pressure shock waves when it rapidly collapses due to condensation. A CIWH can be devastating and, in this case, shattered the cast iron case of the pump and resulted in a workplace fatality. Understanding the physical principles behind CIWH is fundamental in preventing its occurrence and the losses associated with it. These principles are reviewed as part of the explosion's root-cause investigation, and recommendations are provided for the prevention of CIWH.

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