Gas Leak Question

Problem statement on calculation of physical properties of various gases during leakages

Concepts

See Chapter 4 - Source Models under Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals with Applications

Problem Statement

• A pipe 3 cm diameter and 8 m long (relative roughness [epsilon/D] = 0.00005) connects a compressed gas source to a chemical process. The inlet temperature of the gas at the pipe is 293 K and the inlet pressure is 300 kPa. The pipe is accidentally sheared off from the process and the discharges to the atmosphere (101 kPa).
• For the following gases (air, ammonia, ethylene, methane, sulfur dioxide), calculate:
  • Mach Number at Pipe Inlet
  • Mach Number at Pipe Outlet
  • Temperature at Pipe Outlet (K)
  • Pressure at Pipe Outlet (Pa)
  • Gas Flow Rate (kg/s)

Solution

• The approach to solving the problem statement (with which the MATLAB code gas_leak_problem.m implements) is in solution.pdf

Generating the Report

• To publish the solution report in MATLAB, see:
  • https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/publishing-matlab-code.html

Other Notes

• To compute the properties of other chemicals/gases:
  • append the following properties (check in Google the physical properties of the gas) to the array variable under the contants section in gas_leak_problem.m
    • gamma - heat capacity ratio
    • M - molar mass
    • mu - dynamic viscosity
  • add chemical/gas name to Rowname variable under Tabulating answers section in gas_leak_problem.m
  • add a new case under the switch statement, defining the output table under the Appendix section in gas_leak_problem.m

Built With

This solution code is written and run in MATLAB

References:

• Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals with Applications by Daniel A. Crowl & Joseph F. Louvar