GAS PROPERTIES

Lecture Notes : M . Tech. Pipeline Engg.

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 A gas : A homogenous fluid with low density and viscosity.

Gases are Compressible.
It expands to fill the vessel that contains the gas.
The molecules that constitute the gas are spaced farther
apart in comparison with a liquid and, therefore, a slight
change in pressure affects the density of gas more than
that of a liquid.

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MASS AND WEIGHT

Mass is the quantity of matter in a substance.
It is sometimes used interchangeably with weight.
Mass is measured in slugs in the (USCS) of units and
kilograms (kg) in System International (SI) units.
(1 slug = 14.5 kg)

USCS: United States Customary Systems

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Standard Conditions
Standard conditions (also called base conditions) of
temperature and pressure (60F and 14.7 psia in USCS
units),
Standard conditions in SI system are 150 C & 101.325
Kpa.

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Volume
Volume of gas is measured in ft3 in USCS units and m3 in SI units.
Other units for volume include thousand ft 3 (Mft3 ) and million
ft3(MMft3) in USCS units and thousand m3 (km3 ) and million m3(Mm3)
in SI units

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 NOTE:
In USCS units : M represents a thousand.

MM refers to million

In SI :

k (kilo) represents a thousand)

M (Mega) refers to million.

Therefore, 500 MSCFD in USCS units refers to 500

thousand standard cubic feet per day, whereas 15
Mm3/day means 15 million cubic meters per day in SI
units.

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SPECIFIC GRAVITY

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VISCOSITY
Since natural gas is a mixture of gases such as methane , ethane ,
and small portion of other gases, following formula is used to
calculate the viscosity from the viscosities of component gases:

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Average Molecular Weight of Gas mixture

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Ques

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COMPRESSIBILITY FACTOR
It is a measure of how close a real gas is to an ideal gas.
The compressibility factor is defined as the ratio of
the gas volume at a given temperature and pressure to
the volume the gas would occupy if it were an ideal gas at
the same temperature and pressure.

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 Ideal gas law PV=nRT

Modified ideal gas equation / eqn of state for real gases :
PV=ZnRT

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 The following methods are available to calculate the compressibility

factor:
a. Standing-Katz method
b. Dranchuk , Purvis, and Robinson method
c. AGA method
d. CNGA method (most commonly used )

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California Natural Gas Association (CNGA) Method

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 This formula for the compressibility factor is valid when the average
gas pressure , Pavg , is more than 100 psig.
For pressures less than 100 psig, Z is approximately equal to 1.00
where
P avg = average gas pressure, psig
T f = average gas temperature, R (1R=0.556 K)
G = gas gravity (air = 1.00)

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Average Pressure Calculations

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Ques. The gravity of a natural gas mixture is 0.60. Calculate the

compressibility factor of this gas at 1200 psig average pressure and a
temperature of 70F, using the CNGA method.

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 Gas temperature Tf = 70 + 460 = 530R

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HEATING VALUE
The heating value of a gas is defined as the thermal energy per unit
volume of the gas.
It is expressed in Btu / ft3
(1 BTU = 1055 Joules)
For a gas mixture , the term gross heating value is used.
It is calculated based upon the heating values of the component
gases and their mole fractions using the following equation:

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 where
Hm = gross heating value of mixture, Btu/ft3
yi = mole fraction or percent of gas component i
Hi = heating value of gas component, Btu/ft3

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Super Compressibility Factor

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(Gas Flow Equations )

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FLOW EQUATIONS
Several equations are available that relate the gas flow rate with gas
properties, pipe diameter and length, and upstream and downstream
pressures.
These equations are listed as follows:

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1. General Flow equation

2. Colebrook-White equation
3. Modified Colebrook-White equation
4. AGA equation
5. Weymouth equation
6. Panhandle A equation
7. Panhandle B equation
8. IGT equation
9. Spitz glass equation
10. Mueller equation
11. Fritzsche equation

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GENERAL FLOW EQUATION

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Transmission Factor

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Effect of pipe elevations

Case -1 (Single slope )

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 In SI units, the elevation adjustment parameter s is defined as follows:

whereH1 = upstream elevation, m

H2 = downstream elevation, m

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Case -2 (Multiple slopes )

In the calculation of Le it has been assumed that there is a single
slope between the upstream point 1 and the downstream point 2.
If, however, the pipe segment of length L has a series of slopes, then
we introduce a parameter j as follows for each individual pipe sub
segment that constitutes the pipe length from point 1 to point 2.

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 The parameter j is calculated for each slope of each pipe sub

segment of length L1 , L2 , etc. that make up the total length L. The
equivalent length term Le in is calculated by summing the individual
slopes as defined below.

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 The terms j1, j2 , etc. for each rise or fall in the elevations of individual
pipe sub segments are calculated for the parameters s1, s2, etc. for
each segment ,from the pipeline inlet to the end of each segment.

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VELOCITY OF GAS IN A PIPELINE

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EROSIONAL VELOCITY
It is always tried to keep the flow rate of gas and hence the velocity as
high as possible in a pipeline.
But a high velocity in pipeline leads to vibration and noise .
In addition, higher velocities will cause erosion of the pipe interior over
a long period of time.
The upper limit of the gas velocity is usually calculated approximately
from the following equation:

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 Since the gas density may be expressed in terms of pressure and

temperature, using the gas law , the maximum velocity can be
rewritten as

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 where
Z = compressibility factor of gas, dimensionless
R = gas constant = 10.73 ft3 psia/lb-moleR
T = gas temperature, R
G = gas gravity (air = 1.00)
P = gas pressure, psia
Usually, an acceptable operational velocity is 50% of the above.
In the above eqn. P is the maximum pressure in pipeline that is at
inlet section.

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Soln.

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Reynolds No.

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WEYMOUTH EQUATION
In USCS units, the Weymouth equation is stated as follows:

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 In SI units, the Weymouth equation is as follows:

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PANHANDLE A EQUATION
The Panhandle A Equation was developed for use in natural gas
pipelines, incorporating an efficiency factor .
In this equation instead of pipe friction , pipeline efficiency is used.
The general form of the Panhandle A equation is expressed in USCS
units as follows:

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Ques.2

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PANHANDLE B EQUATION
The Panhandle B equation, also known as the revised Panhandle
equation, is used in large diameter, high pressure transmission lines.
In fully turbulent flow, it is found to be accurate for values of
Reynolds number in the range of 4 to 40 million.
This equation in USCS units is as follows:

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Ques. 3

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FRICTION FACTOR
The term friction factor is a dimensionless parameter that depends
upon the Reynolds number of flow.
Two types of friction factor are commonly used :
i) Darcy friction factor.
ii) Fanning friction factor
Both friction factors are coorelated by the following equation :

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 To avoid confusion, the Darcy friction factor is used and is

represented by the symbol f.
Following regimes will be considered :
Laminar flow :
Turbulent flow

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Laminar Flow

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Turbulent Flow
For turbulent flow, the friction factor is a function of the Reynolds
number, pipe inside diameter, and internal roughness of the pipe.
Many empirical relationships for calculating f have been put forth by
researchers.
The most popular correlations are :
i)

The Colebrook-White

ii)

and AGA equations

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 Before we discuss the equations for calculating the friction factor in

turbulent flow, it is appropriate to analyze the turbulent flow regime.
Turbulent flow in pipes (Re > 4000) is subdivided into three separate
regions as follows:
1. Turbulent flow in smooth pipes
2. Turbulent flow in fully rough pipes
3. Transition flow between smooth pipes and fully rough pipes

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COLEBROOK-WHITE EQUATION (between smooth

pipes &fully rough pipes)

where
f = friction factor, dimensionless
D = pipe inside diameter, in.
e = absolute pipe roughness, in.
Re = Reynolds number of flow,
dimensionless

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 where
f = friction factor, dimensionless
D = pipe inside diameter, in.
e = absolute pipe roughness, in.
Re = Reynolds number of flow, dimensionless

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For turbulent flow in smooth pipes,

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Turbulent flow in fully rough pipes

Similarly, for turbulent flow in fully rough pipes, with Re being a large
number , f depends mostly on the roughness e and, therefore, the
friction factor equation reduces to :

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AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATION (AGA) EQUATION

In 1964 and 1965, the American Gas Association (AGA) published a
report on how to calculate the transmission factor for gas pipelines to
be used in the General Flow equation.
This is sometimes referred to as the AGA NB-13 method.
Using the method outlined in this report, the transmission factor F is
calculated using the following method :

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Method of calculation F
First, F is calculated for the rough pipe (referred to as the fully
turbulent zone) by the following equation :

D = INTERNAL DIAMETER.
e = absolute pipe roughness
Next, F is calculated based on the smooth pipe law (referred to as
the partially turbulent zone).

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 Ft = Von Karman smooth pipe transmission factor

D f = pipe drag factor that depends on the Bend Index (BI) of the pipe.
The pipe drag factor D f is a parameter that takes into account the
number of bends, fittings, etc. Its value ranges from 0.90 to 0.99.
The Bend index is the sum of all the angles and bends in the pipe
segment, divided by the total length of the pipe section under
consideration

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 Finally, the smaller of the two values of the

transmission factor is used in the General Flow
Equation

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Ques :
Using the AGA method, calculate the transmission factor and friction
factor for gas flow in an NPS 20 pipeline with 0.500 in. wall thickness.
The flow rate is 200 MMSCFD, gas gravity = 0.6, and viscosity =
0.000008 lb/ft-sec.
The absolute pipe roughness is 700 in. Assume a bend index of
60, base pressure of 14.73 psia, and base temperature of 60F.

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