Understanding the Pulsation & Vibration Control Concepts in the New API 618 Fifth Edition, K.E. Atkins, J.D. Tison, A.S. Pyle, 2004 Gas Machinery Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 4-7, 2004

Significant changes have been incorporated into the section concerning pulsation and vibration control. Specific guidelines are included to explain the necessity to perform certain analyses (that were optional in the Fourth Edition) based on pressure pulsation and shaking force levels determined from the acoustical simulation. This will hopefully reduce the ambiguity in determining whether or not forced mechanical response calculations should be performed.

The purpose of this short course is to provide the user with a working knowledge of good engineering practices for pulsation and vibration control for reciprocating machinery commonly used in the natural gas industry. An in-depth explanation of the changes in API 618 and the differing design philosophies will be presented. Several example cases illustrating design concepts will be used.