Stephen M. Folga

Hydrogen distribution infrastructure.

Whether produced from fossil or non‐fossil sources, the widespread use of hydrogen will require a new and extensive infrastructure to produce, distribute, store and dispense it as a vehicular fuel or for electric generation. Depending on the source from which hydrogen is produced and the form in which it is delivered, many alternative infrastructures can be envisioned. Tradeoffs in scale economies between process and distribution technologies, and such issues as operating cost, safety, materials, etc. can also favor alternative forms of infrastructure. This paper discusses several infrastructure alternatives and the associated “well‐to‐pump” or “fuel cycle” cost of delivered hydrogen.

NGFAST: a simulation model for rapid assessment of impacts of natural gas pipeline breaks and flow reductions at U.S. state borders and import points

This paper describes NGfast, the new simulation and impact-analysis tool developed by Argonne National Laboratory for rapid, first-stage assessments of impacts of major pipeline breaks. The methodology, calculation logic, and main assumptions are discussed. The concepts presented are most useful to state and national energy agencies tasked as first responders to such emergencies. Within minutes of the occurrence of a break, NGfast can generate an HTML-formatted report to support briefing materials for state and federal emergency responders. Sample partial results of a simulation of a real system in the United States are presented.

Modeling Electric Power and Natural Gas System Interdependencies

AbstractTo promote the resilience and protection of infrastructure assets from an all-hazards perspective, this paper describes the progress of interdependencies modeling and integration efforts to...

New Madrid and Wabash Valley seismic study: simulating the impacts on natural gas transmission pipelines and downstream markets

This paper summarizes the methodology, simulation tools, and major initial findings made by Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) on the potential impact of simultaneous, high-intensity New Madrid and Wabash Valley Seismic Events on the natural gas interstate pipelines and their subsequent impacts on the downstream customers, particularly on the states under the purview of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region V operations. Downstream impacts are expressed in terms of percent reduction in deliveries, population affected, and numbers of commercial and industrial customers shed. Damage functions and fragility curves are employed to identify specific pipelines that could potentially be affected, as well as the probable location(s) of the pipeline breaks and leaks. Effects of emergency remedial measures to mitigate impacts are also simulated. The methodology employed two models: (1) the FEMA-developed HAZUS MH-MR3 and (2) the Ar-gonne-developed NGFast pipeline break simulation tool. The models are described, and their complementary roles are discussed.

A natural gas modeling framework for conducting infrastructure analysis studies

Increased emphasis on national critical infrastructure protection has accelerated the need to respond to infrastructure assessment requests in a timely manner with reasonable certainty of system consequences following either natural or deliberate system disruptions. Natural gas supply, transmission, and distribution networks provide an important capability to dependent electric power, industrial, commercial, military, and residential customers. This paper describes the natural gas infrastructure analysis and modeling framework (NGtools) at Argonne National Laboratory that directly supports the analysis of the natural gas transmission network given various system disruptions. Infrastructure analysts, given the task to assess the resiliency of the natural gas infrastructure under various disruption scenarios, efficiently respond with increased certainty to various requests by using the in-house-developed analytical suite of tools within NGtools. Analysts use NGtools to identify critical system components and equipment, assess potential network-wide impacts, and suggest measures to mitigate undesirable system responses.

Description of Simplified Models

This section summarizes the simplified monolayer energy dissipation (MED) erosion model and a suggested empirical complementary approach that relies upon data correlations. Also included is a brief description of the input parameters required for each approach.

Scaling and Relationships Between Dependent Variables and Metal Wastage

The simplified MED erosion model given by Eq. 3.1 or 3.4 shows clearly the relationship between the dependent variables and erosion, in particular, the porosity and the solids velocity. The solids velocity in the vicinity of the tubes is approximately the superficial velocity; alternatively, it may be estimated from Eq. 4.2.5 or from the balance between drag and buoyancy by using Ergun’s equation.

Parameters that Have Uncertain Effects upon Metal Wastage

Parameters that have unclear, uncertain, or speculative effects on metal wastage are briefly described in this section.

Metal wastage design guidelines for bubbling fluidized-bed combustors. Final report

These metal wastage design guidelines identify relationships between metal wastage and (1) design parameters (such as tube size, tube spacing and pitch, tube bundle and fluidized-bed height to distributor, and heat exchanger tube material properties) and (2) operating parameters (such as fluidizing velocity, particle size, particle hardness, and angularity). The guidelines are of both a quantitative and qualitative nature. Simplified mechanistic models are described, which account for the essential hydrodynamics and metal wastage processes occurring in bubbling fluidized beds. The empirical correlational approach complements the use of these models in the development of these design guidelines. Data used for model and guideline validation are summarized and referenced. Sample calculations and recommended design procedures are included. The influences of dependent variables on metal wastage, such as solids velocity, bubble size, and in-bed pressure fluctuations, are discussed.