Tightness Testing and Research Laboratory

ROOM TEMPERATURE

ON THE SELCO SEAL 4" cl150

EXTERNAL BENDING MOMENT TIGHTNESS TEST (ROBT) Ib 316SS/GORE-TEX GASKET STYLE Report prepared for Mr Mel Lowry SEALING CORPORATION

Mr Nitin R. Parekh OLIN CHEMICALS and

Mr David Mills W.L. GORE & ASSOCIATES, INC. by Hakim Bouzid and Michel Derenne June 21 st, 1996

TEST PROGRAM ROom temperature external Bending moment Tightness tests, called ROBT, were performed in Helium at 400 and 800 psig on the SELCO Seal 4" cl 150 Ib 316SS/GORE-TEX gasket at the Tightness Testing and Research Laboratory of the Ecole Poly technique. This report summarizes the ROBT test procedure and the results. ROBT TEST PURPOSE The ROom temperature external Bending moment Tightness test ( ROBT ) extends the PVRC ROom Temperature Tightness test (ROTT) concept to evaluate the effect of external bending loads on a real NPS 4 class 150 Ib flange joint. The ROBT test realistically reproduces pressures, bolt loads and external bending loads applied to bolted flanged joints in process and power plants. The test procedure involves initial compression at room

2 temperature ( bolt-up ), pressurization with Helium (operation), and application of external bending moments.
ESTABLISHMENT OF TEST CONDITIONS

For some gasket products, ROSTtest conditions can be chosen on the basis of the work that is being done for the PVRC on the effect of external loads on the leakage behaviour of some typical gaskets and from manufacturer and user field experience data available to date. The conditions for the ROST test performed on the SELCO Seal 4" cI 150 Ib 316SS/GORETEX gasket product were specified by OLIN CHEMICALS and SEALING CORPORATION. These test conditions are 25,000 psi and 50,000 psi bolt-up stress and 400 and 800 psig He pressure with a maximum bending moment of 800 ft.lb.
GASKET SPECIMEN The SELCO Seal 4" cl 150 Ib SS/GORE-TEX gasket samples were provided by SEALING CORPORATION, to the dimensions as defined in the proposed ASTM Draft No.9 for ROTT testing of non-sheet gasketing materials: 4.5 in. 10 x 6.88 in. 00. Our laboratory test code for this material is SS01. TEST RIG FEATURES

Description of the ROBT rig

A specially designed external bending load tightness test rig, the ROST rig facility exists at TTRL. It consists of a NPS 4 schedule 40 pipe with a pair of class 150 Ib weld-neck flanges mounted on two V-shape supports which are part of a rigid frame base. The external bending moment is applied through two single acting hydraulic jacks located at some distance between the supports. Two strain gages located on the top of the external pipe surface accurately monitor the external bending moment. The bolt loads, gasket and leak rate may be monitored displacement, flange rotation, internal pressure continuously through a data acquisition system. The initial bolt load is applied by a torque breaker wrench to each of the 5/8-in-diameter, SAE grade 8 strain gagged bolts. A special tightening procedure was developed to achieve bolt load uniformity based on real time monitoring. Six displacement transducers four of which are placed in diametrically opposed pairs, are used to measure gasket displacement and flange rotation. All important parameters are continuously monitored.

on preparation and installation First the bolts and the flange surface are cleaned from all residues. Grease (molybdenum
based) is then carefully applied to all bolts. Finally a 4" NPS, class 150 Ib gasket (usually 4.5" 10 x 6.19" 00) is installed between the flanges.

3 Monitored parameters Bolt load, flange rotation, external bending moment, fluid pressure, leak rate and the elapsed time are measured throughout the test using a microcomputer based data acquisition system and a test software. Leakage measurements With the ROBT rig, leakage measurements are performed using the pressure decay method. The rig is equipped with a measuring system that can detect leakage values as low as 0.0002 mglsec of Helium with reliability. A 0.0002 mglsec leak corresponds to a Tp of around 2000 for an internal gas pressure of 400 psig. Test specifics Test temperature: Pipe joint: Initial bolt stress: Helium nominal pressure: Bending Moment: ROBT TEST PROCEDURE The ROBT test can be described as being a three step procedure. The first step consists of seating the gasket by conducting a R.T. loading. The second step is to subject the gasket to the required pressure. The third and final step is to apply in steps the specified external bending load. The details of the ROBT test procedure are as follows: Step 1 - Gasket seating (see Fig. 1): The gasket, inserted between two NPS 4 class 150 Ib weld-neck flanges (with a surface finish of 250 AARH), is seated by applying the required bolt stress (25,000 or 50,000 psi) in four passes using four incremental torque levels. For each pass, a criss cross sequence is used to tighten the bolts. The load on each bolt is monitored in real time which help to achieve a certain uniformity of the gasket stress distribution. Step 2 - Pressurization After seating the gasket at the required bolt stress level, the specified Helium pressure (400 and 800 psi) is applied to the gasket prior to any leak rate measurements. Step 3 - Bending load application Once the pressure is released, the external bending moment can be applied in stages using the hydraulic jacks. Leakage is then measured allowing some time for stabilization. 75F :i:5F NPS 4 schedule 40 pipe with class 150 Ib weld-neck flanges 25,000 and 50,000 psi 400 and 800 psi. Applied in step up to maximum specified value ( 800 ft.lb ).

4 TEST OUTPUT PARAMETERS

Bolt load, flange rotation and tightness the following format:
~ ~

results are presented

graphically, for each test, in

Bolt load scatter is plotted for each external bending moment applied on a linear scale. Top and bottom flange rotation as a function of the external bending moment on a linear scale.

Tightness as a function of the external bending moment on a semi-logarithmic scale.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 50,000 psi Bolt Stress Based on an area of 8.44 in2, the gasket stress of the SELCO seal is 7300 psi at 400 psi He and 6070 psi at 800 psi He. The bolt load scatter shown in Figs. 1a and 1b which refers to the 400 and 800 psi gas pressure does not seem to be very much affected as the bending moment is increase gradually to 800 lb.ft. Initially, before releasing helium pressure, the bolt-up was evenly applied for the purpose of achieving gasket stress uniformity. As a result, the bolt load variation at zero bending moment is quite constant. The small difference between the zero bending curve and the other curves of Fig 1a, which appears to be a shift in the curve, is due to the creep-relaxation that has taken place before applying the first bending moment to the pipe. Consequently, a maximum of around 200 Ib per bolt seem to have been lost. However, as the gas pressure is increased to 800 psi, all bolts experienced the same drop in their loads as is seen in Fig. 2b. It is to be noted that, as the 800 lb.ft bending moment was applied, the load in the bolts has slightly been affected with a maximum change of around 300 Ib corresponding to 3.3 %. The rotation of the flange is also of importance in terms of leakage. Figs. 2a and 2b show the change in flange rotation as the bending load is increased. Obviously, the top of the flange experience an increase in rotation while the bottom part shows a decrease by a similar amount for the same applied bending load. Over 0.008 deg (0.5 min.) change is obtained at the maximum bending load. By looking at the Sg-Tp graph of Fig. 3, it could be said that the SELCO seal maintained its tightness. For some bending loads, leakage was not detected at 400 psi gas pressure. At all times, the tightness of the SELCO seal gasket was greater than 2000 which is beyond the resolution limit of the ROBT bench. 25,000 psi Bolt Stress Based on an area of 8.44 in2 (see ROTT report), the gasket stress of the SELCO seal is 3410 psi at 400 psi He and 2180 psi at 800 psi He. The bolt load variation shown in Fig 4a and 4b which refers to the 400 and 800 psi gas pressure is hardly affected as the bending moment is increase gradually to 800 lb.ft. The maximum change in bolt load is around 200 Ib for both pressures. This corresponds to a change of 4%.

5 A maximum of around 0.009 deg. of change in flange rotation is observed in this case. The general trend obtained is very similar to the previous case of 50,000 psi bolt-up. This indicates that the bolt-up does not have a significant effect on the change in flange rotation. With 25000 psi bolt-up, the tightness of the SELCO seal gasket is shown not be affected by the application of the range of bending moment that has been considered. In, fact at both Helium pressures tightness is shown to be relatively constant. The tightness represented in Fig. 6 are rather low because of the low gasket stress that is applied as a result of the 25000 psi initial bolt-up.

6
Appendix 1 - Tightness Parameter, Tp: Definition

Any specific measure of mass leak rate is strongly correlated to the applied fluid pressure.
To permit the comparison of the leakage behaviour of gaskets tested at different fluid pressures, the effect of pressure must be taken into account. This has led to the definition of a non-dimensional Tightness Parameter, Tp, which relates a given measured value of leak rate to the pressure at which this leak rate was actually obtained:
Lrm' Tp = ~ P' ( Lrm )
0.5

where:

P P' Lrm Lrm'

= Fluid pressure (MPa or psig) Reference pressure (0.101 MPa or 14.7 psig) = Mass Leak Rate (mg/s) = Unit Mass Leak Rate (1 mg/s for a 150 mm 00 gasket in a joint).

In other words, Tp was developed so that at a given state of condition of a gasket, the same tightness value be obtained whether leakage is measured with fluid pressurized at 200, 400, 800 psig or any other pressure. proportional to pressure and inversely proportional to the square root of leak rate. More precisely, Tp can be thought of as the number of atmospheres required to cause a helium leak of 1 mg/sec for a 150 mm gasket 00 in a joint. Since this is about the same as the 00 an NPS 4 in. joint, the pressure to cause a leak of 1 mg/sec of helium for that joint is its tightness. A higher value of Tp means a tighter joint. Because of the square root, a joint that is 10 times tighter leaks 100 times less.
Tp is

ROST ON SELCO SEAL 4" cl150 Ib 55 316/GORETEX

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ROST ON SELCO SEAL 4" cl150 Ib SS 316/GORETEX

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Figure6