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2021 AFT Platinum Pipe award winners announced

Published by , Senior Editor
World Pipelines,


Applied Flow Technology has announced the results of the 2021 Platinum Pipe Award. Each year, this AFT award recognises excellence in piping and ducting system modelling using AFT software. Customers who use AFT Fathom, AFT Arrow, or AFT Impulse can enter projects in one, or several, of the categories.

Each of the winners below received a US$500 Amazon gift card, US$2000 in software credit for their company, and physical awards to display on their desks. This year recognised one Honourable Mention entry with a US$100 gift card.

While the Platinum Pipe Award contest has closed for this year, any AFT user can prepare to enter the contest next year and submit a project before 31 October 2021.

Most interesting model

Tejas Ambre & Dr. S. Bharath, Vertex Piping Engineers Pvt. Ltd.
Project: Thermo-hydraulic Analysis of Experimental Helium Cooling Loop for lead Lithium Cooled Ceramic Breeder using AFT Arrow.

Experimental Helium Cooling Loop (EHCL) is a high-pressure high temperature closed loop helium gas system that will be used as cooling system for evaluating the performance of various fusion blanket components including the Indian Test Blanket Module (TBM), fusion blanket first wall mock-ups, Pb-Li helium heat exchangers, divertor mock-ups, and more. AFT Arrow helped determine the steady-state thermo-hydraulic performance of the experimental helium cooling loop including the hot and cold leg interactions for various operating and commissioning conditions as per the test protocol.

Test/field data correlation

Swapnil Paingankar and Mohammed Ilyas Mullani, Ingenero Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
Project: Root Cause Analysis and Mitigation Using AFT Impulse for Loading Line Vibrations at Petrochemical Plant Storage Tanks.

A root cause analysis (RCA) for sudden pressure rise that occurred during material loading operations. This project completed the validation and reconciliation with respect to limited available operating data and allowed the team to suggest mitigation options for reliability and sustainability. The root cause was identified, and mitigation options were suggested. After the implementation of the recommendations, the client responded with a testimonial: “Historically pending issue has been resolved scientifically with clear focus.” The project shows 8 measured steady-state data points compared to steady-state Impulse results. All data matched within 5 - 10%.

Operational benefits and sustainability

Michael Arthur, Hydrus Works, LLC.
Project: Optimised Stormwater Drainage at a Gulf Coast Refinery Using AFT Fathom.

This project provided a solution to a long-time drainage issue for a Fortune 500 company by providing an optimised solution while reducing overall capital for the project. The overwhelming complexity of marrying a gravity system model to a pressurised system model calls for a software that can integrate field data while providing an accurate assessment of the existing system for use in future expansion projects. Hydrus Works was able to provide an accurate model that solves the long-time drainage issue with multiple configuration options by use of AFT Fathom's scenarios, all while reducing the project scope by over US$25 million.

Honourable mention, operational benefits and sustainability

Professor Ricardo Pontes, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP).
Project: Optimal Synthesis of Cooling Water Pumping and Distribution Systems Using AFT Fathom.

Given a cooling water demand and the location of the cooling water consumers, the project goal was to define the optimal strategy to distribute cooling water by determining the number of pumps, the pump locations, and determine if secondary distribution headers are to be used. AFT Fathom eased the modelling of a system in loop and enabled the quick data insertion of different pump and valve models. The robust algorithm yielded a solution for the model in few seconds. Professor Pontes was also able to estimate the capital and operating costs of the cooling water distribution system. Three strategies for cooling water distribution were analysed. Two concepts presented reductions of 7% and 13% in energy consumption, and a subsequent decrease in costs by 4% and 11%, respectively.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/18122020/2021-aft-platinum-pipe-award-winners-announced/

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