L51733 Noise Control Guidelines For Compressor Stations

Introduction A vast amount of applied technology relating to noise and vibration control has emerged over the last twenty years or so. It would be an impossible task to attempt to cover all this material in a text book aimed at providing the reader with a fundamental basis for noise and vibration analysis, let alone in a single chapter! This chapter is therefore only concerned with some of the more important fundamental considerations required for a systematic approach to engineering noise and vibration control, the main emphasis being the industrial environment. The reader is referred to Harris 4.1 for a detailed engineering-handbook-type coverage of existing noise control procedures, and to Harris and Crede 4.2 for a detailed engineering-handbook-type coverage of existing shock and vibration control procedures. Beranek 4.3 also covers a wide range of practical noise and vibration control procedures. Some of the more recent advances relating to specific areas of noise and vibration control are obviously not available in the handbook-type literature, and one has to refer to specialist research journals. A list of major international journals that publish research and development articles in noise and vibration control is presented in Appendix 1. This chapter commences with a discussion on noise and vibration measurement units. The emphasis is on the fundamental principles involved with the selection of objective and subjective sound measurement scales, vibration measurement scales, frequency analysis bandwidths, and the addition and subtraction of decibels.

For the conveyance and storage of natural gas, compressor stations are required where the installed power output varies mostly between 1 MW and 20 MW. The noise control measures involved to meet the environmental noise immission regulations in Europe will be presented. The most economical methods of noise control techniques are described particularly for the intake system and the exhaust system of gas turbines, the housing of such engines and for peripheral sound sources like gas coolers, oil coolers and the above ground piping.

For the conveyance and storage of natural gas, compressor stations are required where the installed power output varies mostly between 1 MW and 20 MW. The noise control measures involved to meet the environmental noise emission regulations in Europe will be presented. The most economical noise control techniques are described particularly for the intake and exhaust systems of gas turbines, the housing of such engines, and peripheral sound sources like gas coolers, oil coolers, and aboveground piping.

Many natural gas compressor stations which were previously located away from residential areas are now being encroached upon by surrounding building developments. Furthermore, an increased awareness of community noise issues has proved to be the impetus for investigating and developing more effective noise control methods and treatments for natural gas compressor facilities. This project investigates the feasibility of applying Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to the exhaust of a large, internal-combustion reciprocating type engine. Large reciprocating internal combustion engines pose significant challenges for the noise control engineer. In the case of the engines employed at Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company Compressor Station 229, these engines radiate extremely low frequency exhaust noise into the surrounding environs. These engines produce discrete frequencies in the exhaust spectra with a particularly strong component at 26.5 Hz, which corresponds to the fundamental firing frequency (the 5.0 rotational order) of the engine; significant attenuation of the raw exhaust noise can be particularly difficult due to the sound power and spectral content. Traditional methods would necessitate a very large silencer in order to realize improved attenuation of the exhaust noise, relative to the existing silencer. Measurements were conducted at the error microphone location, at 1.0 meter from the exhaust outlet and at the property line. At a distance of 1.0 meter the WNCT integrated active / passive silencer yielded 84.5 dBA (92.3 dBL) while the original equipment silencer yielded 92.7 dBA (98.8 dBL). Band-limited (DC - 200 Hz) measurements were taken at the error microphone location; control off (WNCT passive - only): 109.8 dBL overall, 107.7 dBL 26.5 Hz component. With control on (WNCT active + passive) at the same position overall noise was 99.7 dBL with the 26.5 Hz component reading 89.1 dBL. Far-field A-weighted reductions were inconclusive due to the presence of other contributing noise sources possessing similar noise characteristics. Flow resistance measurements indicated that back pressure had been reduced by 95% relative to the original equipment silencer through the use of the integrated WNCT active / passive silencer.

Dresser-Rand single stage pipeline booster compressors have been popular for gas transmission applications due to their high efficiency. As more compressors are installed in natural gas compressor stations close to populated areas, the noise level emitted from the compressor stations becomes a concern. To address the potential community noise concerns, Dresser-Rand recently developed a very effective noise control device — the Duct Resonator array or DR array, to attenuate the internal noise of the compressor, which is typically a major noise source of a compressor station. This technology has been validated by extensive in-house experimental study to be acoustically effective and yet have no measurable adverse effect on aerodynamic performance. This paper discusses the application of DR arrays in two compressors that are in-service at a Williams Gas Pipeline compressor station. Note: the DR arrays are now included in the third unit addition. A successful collaboration among the compressor manufacturer, the compressor user, and a third party acoustics expert was coordinated to take acoustic measurements independently to evaluate the noise reduction provided by the DR arrays. The comprehensive acoustic data acquisition included sound pressure level and sound intensity level measurements around each of the two compressors and several noise level surveys both inside and outside of the compressor building. Noise testing was first performed on each of the two compressors prior to the installation of the DR arrays and was repeated after the compressor hardware modification with DR arrays. A comparison of the noise data recorded before and after the installation of the DR arrays confirmed that the compressor noise level inside the compressor building and the noise level outside of the building were reduced significantly. The DR array has proved to be an efficient and effective device for reducing noise and vibration levels of both existing and new centrifugal compressors and associated piping.

Compressed air is utilized throughout various production processes in the citrus industry and can influence production quality and operating costs. Within production equipment, compressed air is expanded from a higher pressure to perform various tasks. The pressure ahead of the final discharge location can have a direct impact on the operation of the specific process. Article pressure is the term used to describe the pressure located closest to the point where air is expanded to do work. Article pressure can be influenced by many variables that exist between supply equipment (compressors) and the point of use. Understanding the relationship between the supply pressure and the article pressure will facilitate the ability to maximize the repeatability and performance of production equipment and minimize the supply power required to operate the compressed air system. This paper will discuss variables that influence the difference between the pressure supplied by the compressor station and the pressure utilized within the production equipment. Illustrations and field examples will be utilized to describe issues. Troubleshooting methods will be discussed along with a description of how to trend variables that influence production so problems can be corrected before they influence productivity. Paper published with permission.

A number of projects have been carried out in Nanjing University to implement active noise control technologies, which include active control of transformer noise, active sound barrier, active noise control in communication chassis, active noise control in natural ventilation windows, active control of large impulsive noise in headset and active noise control in a train compartment. Unlike our previous research, these projects are all funded by industries and the aim is not for doing academic research, but to make commercial prototypes. Various challenges in the implementation of active noise control technologies in these projects to make commercial products are reported and discussed, and main issues to make successful commercial active noise control products are pointed out.

The Poseidon Pipeline spill case study provides an excellent example of coordination within the Unified Command during response to an offshore oil spill where dispersants were used as the primary mitigation tool. Dispersants are an effective tool to mitigate oil spills if certain specific criteria are met, including an acceptable oil type, the application of dispersants is a preferred environmental trade-off to potential shoreline impacts, rapid approval is possible, and a dispersant delivery system is available. In the Gulf of Mexico, offshore pre-approval has been given to the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) by the Regional Response Team (RRT). If the FOSC determines that the oil threatens sensitive coastal areas, he can grant approval quickly. As demonstrated in the Poseidon Pipeline spill case study, good field intelligence; accurate aerial observation information; close coordination between the responsible party (RP), state, FOSC, and their spill management teams; readily available dispersant application resources; and trained observers and monitoring teams are key elements to effective and environmentally beneficial dispersant applications.

These National Guidelines have been prepared for legislators at all levels of government, provincial planners, municipalities, consultants, industries, and designers. The intent is to provide a common basis across Canada for the assessment, measurement, and legislative control of environmental noise while, at the same time, providing options to allow flexibility of choice to fit specific needs. The National Guidelines may be adopted or modified, in entirety and in part, into provincial or municipal legislation or into codes of practice. The National Guidelines are divided into two major parts. Part I, Concepts and Procedures, details the various options available in developing a noise control program and includes a section on Land Use Planning and Model Noise Control Legislation presenting sound level objectives and more general bylaws. The second part of the document contains technical reference material, including a section on instrument specification, measurement, and prediction, and another covering noise reduction techniques. Terms and interpretations, references, and technical support documents are included also. The texts of the technical support documents are briefly summarized in the document and are reproduced on microfiche at the end of the National Guidelines. The National Guidelines were prepared by the Working Group on Environmental Noise on the Federal/Provincial Advisory Committee on Environmental and Occupational Health, which intends to provide periodic revisions.

The causes of additional errors in the estimates of the spectral characteristics of noisy signals due to the noise emerging in the latent period of facility’s emergency state are analyzed. Algorithms and technologies for replacing non-measurable samples of the noise with their approximate equivalent values are proposed, showing the possibility of using them to calculate the estimates of the spectral characteristics of the noise both for the case when a correlation is present between the useful signal and the noise and for the case when there is no such correlation. It is shown that the use of the obtained estimates of the spectral characteristics of the noise makes it possible to increase the reliability of the results of traditional technologies of spectral analysis of noisy signals. It is also shown that using the algorithms for calculating equivalent samples of the noise, it is possible to create a technology of relay spectral noise analysis and a technology of sign spectral noise analysis, which are easy to implement in terms of hardware in control systems. According to the results of the experiments for the control of the beginning of the latent period of transition into an emergency state for sucker rod pumping units, compressor stations, drilling rigs, etc., the application of these technologies is effective primarily for facilities with a cyclic mode of operation.

For a southern german gas turbine compressor station sound emission levels and noise control thereoff are evaluated based on authority specified immission levels. Project history, planning and operating experience is shown.

In October 1995, NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) commissioned the first mechanical drive application of Solar Turbines’ Taurus™ 70S gas turbine. The unit was installed as a part of a turbine/compressor package at a compressor station on NGTL’s natural gas pipeline system. As this first installation was a part of a development test program by Solar Turbines, field evaluation was conducted subsequent to the original commissioning and related testing. This paper presents NGTL’s experiences in commissioning, startup and operation. Field performance test results for the gas turbine are presented and focus on output power, thermal efficiency and exhaust emissions. Some of the findings and observations from the field evaluation tests performed by Solar are also discussed. In addition, a description of the facility in which the turbine/compressor package is installed is provided.

When designing a facility, the user and his architect are interested in adequate noise control at lowest cost. Not being acoustical experts, they depend on them or on component manufacturers for noise reduction information. Among these problems, it is necessary to translate STL data from recognized laboratories into terms of noise control. A number of important considerations prevent this from being a simple matter. Some involving expense in space as well as money will be discussed.

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Recently, the noise regulations are being reinforced to restrict the noise levels in the workplace and to protect the operator on the offshore structures. So, the noise levels of indoor and outdoor are one of the crucial barometers for determining the quality of offshore structures. In this paper, an efficient and accurate noise analysis method, which is used to calculate the indoor and outdoor noise levels for Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, is introduced. The indoor noise level is calculated through summing up structure-borne noise, airborne noise from machinery, HVAC noise and transmitted noise from topside. Each noise level is predicted using appropriate methods by HHI’s procedures, which consider room acoustic theories, numerical methods like SEA and measured database at various ships and offshore structures. The outdoor noise level is predicted by using ray tracing method. Noise control procedures to improve acoustic properties of cabin/machinery room and to reduce the indoor/outdoor noise levels of offshore structures are also introduced: these procedures are produced by numerous experiments at the large scale acoustic test facilities like reverberant rooms and cabin mock-up. The established method has been applied to various types of real projects for FPSOs. The predicted results are confirmed to agree well with measurements results. It is expected to be very helpful to design the low noise FPSO.