Systems and engineering technology provider Frazer-Nash has completed the design of a ventilation system for the three existing gas turbine enclosures aboard the Scott platform in the North Sea. 

The Scott platform occupies one of two oil fields in the North Sea operated by Canadian oil and gas company, Nexen Petroleum. The oil platforms require gas turbines to generate electricity, supporting power-intensive tasks such as driving pumps and gas compressors. 

The work saw Frazer-Nash analyse the temperature distribution and compare this to the cooling requirements of the company’s upgraded control equipment within the gas turbine enclosures. Based on the findings Frazer-Nash then re-designed the ventilation for the enclosure to ensure the operating environment met the thermal requirement of the new systems. 

Following the recent upgrade of the company’s gas turbine enclosures, Frazer-Nash was contracted to advise on the heat management of the system and subsequent design modifications to the ventilation systems.

Ventilation systems are crucial in supplying adequate cooling to the gas turbine enclosures. Convection, radiation and hot bleed flows originating from a gas turbine can create environments that are unsuitable for thermally sensitive equipment.

Using detailed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models of the gas turbine and its enclosure, Frazer-Nash simulated the heat loading and ventilation flow through the enclosure in order to identify regions that required modification. After the initial analysis the company then designed ventilation ductwork to increase ventilation flow rate and cooling effectiveness in the enclosure while maintaining the existing cooling fans – which could in the long term reduce the company’s maintenance costs and increase reliability.

Liam Hewitt, a Senior Engineer at Frazer-Nash said: “We have been supporting Nexen Petroleum in helping to ensure that its gas turbine enclosures have effective heat management and to improve the system’s overall performance. This most recent design work was a fine example of our ability to draw upon our extensive knowledge of fluid mechanics and expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics and to demonstrate the breadth of our skills and experience in the oil and gas sector.

“In industrial applications such as these, that use gas turbines to meet high power demands, it is vital that safety requirements are met and high reliability is achieved throughout, whilst ensuring optimal use of resources.”

Working closely with US air filtration manufacturers, American Air Filters, Frazer-Nash supported the manufacture of the newly designed ventilation system, which has now been installed. Following the successful completion of this work, Nexen Petroleum has once again contracted Frazer-Nash to lead additional gas turbine and process engineering work aboard both of the company’s North Sea platforms, Scott and Buzzard.