Thermal Design of a Dalia SPS Deepwater Christmas Tree - Verified by Use of Full-Scale Testing and Numerical Simulations

摘要

The Dalia SPS Deep Water Project is requesting the most extensive use of thermal insulation until now on SPS equipment for hydrate control during cool down scenarios. The complex processes of insulating the Dalia X-Tree are presented, including insulation of the X-Tree spool, a “Dog House” around the Flow Control Module and a second “Dog House” around a connector. This work illustrates the importance of correct use of numerical simulations in balance with a practical sense of what is possible to manufacture. It is also showing the challenges of verifying a complex thermal system where deviations between the test setup and a real production scenario must be accounted for. In the early phase, the thermal insulation design is established by use of numerical simulations. This provides theoretical models which are adjusted to fit the real and detailed complexity of the components on the X-Tree. A full scale cool down test of the X-Tree is used to verify the design and the numerical models.