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This work has been funded by the EXOLUM-UPM Chair in Metrology at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid with project number P060607550. This program develops the scientific collaboration between UPM (Spain) and EXOLUM Corporation, with the purpose of promoting knowledge of metrology. EXOLUM is the leading company in Spain for oil product transportation and storage and is one of the largest private companies in its sector at an international level. In addition, the authors wish to thank the Metrology Laboratory of EXOLUM in Loeches (Madrid) for providing the data analyzed in this work.

Analysis of institutional authors

Garcia-Berrocal, AgustinAuthorMontalvo, CristinaCorresponding AuthorGarcia-Alvarez, RaulAuthor

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January 19, 2025
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Optimization of the Monte Carlo Simulation to Improve the Calibration Uncertainty of Volume Meters for Hydrocarbons Custody Transfer

Publicated to:Applied Sciences-Basel. 14 (24): 11472- - 2024-12-01 14(24), DOI: 10.3390/app142411472

Authors: Garcia-Berrocal, Agustin; Montalvo, Cristina; Carmona, Pablo; Garcia-alvarez, Raul

Affiliations

EXOLUM Corp SA, Titan 13, Madrid 28045, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid UPM, EXOLUM Chair Metrol, Energy & Fuels Dept, Rios Rosas 21, Madrid 28003, Spain - Author

Abstract

Since its publication by ISO in 1993, the GUM document has become the model to follow for the estimation of measurement uncertainty in the industry. However, the document itself recognizes its limitations in justifying the level of coverage. The calibration of volumetric meters for the custody transfer of liquid products can be affected by these limitations. The objective of this work is to calculate the calibration uncertainty of such meters by applying the Monte Carlo method of Supplement 1 of the GUM document (GUM-S1). In this way, the use of the classic GUM method is avoided. Therefore, the adaptive implementation of the Monte Carlo method (AMCM) has been applied to optimize the calibration uncertainty of a positive displacement meter against a standard tank in an ISO 17025 accredited volume laboratory. These meters are used for custody transfer in liquid hydrocarbon logistics where any reduction in the uncertainty estimation may have an important economic impact. Several innovations are proposed when applying AMCM; regulation of AMCM convergence by applying the Student's t-distribution, validation of repeatability and filtering of outliers by performing 50 iterations of the AMCM, and characterization of the measurand's Probability Density Function (PDF) which results in a Flatten-Gaussian. This work proves that the GUM method does not assign the correct PDF. The uncertainty estimation is reduced by 7.1% compared to the GUM method.

Keywords

Custody transferFlow meterMeter factorMonte carloUncertaintUncertainty

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Applied Sciences-Basel due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 50/175, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Engineering, Multidisciplinary. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría Engineering (Miscellaneous).

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-08-10:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 3 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

    It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

    • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
    • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/88889/

    As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

    • Views: 175
    • Downloads: 3

    Leadership analysis of institutional authors

    There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GARCIA-BERROCAL SANCHEZ, AGUSTIN) and Last Author (GARCIA ALVAREZ, RAUL).

    the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been MONTALVO MARTIN, CRISTINA.