Butterfly valves are quarter-turn valves that are popular for on-off or modulating services. They are lightweight, have a small installation footprint, lower cost, quick operation, and are available with large orifice sizes. The “butterfly" is a disk connected to a rod. When the valve opens, the disk rotates to allow fluid to pass through. It closes when the rod rotates the disc by a quarter turn to a position perpendicular to the flow direction. In this article you will learn how a butterfly valve works, what are the different types of butterfly valves, what actuation options are available for these valves, and more.
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Learn about other types of valves in our valve fundamentals article.
Butterfly valves have a relatively simple construction. Figure 2 shows the main components of a butterfly valve, which are the body, seal, disc, and stem. The disc (Figure 2 labeled E) of a butterfly valve aligns with the center of the connected piping and the stem (Figure 2 labeled B) connects to an actuator or handle on the outside of the valve. In the closed position, the disc is perpendicular to the flow, as shown in Figure 2, and seals against the valve seat (Figure 2 labeled D). An o-ring (Figure 2 labeled C) in the stem packing seals against leakage along the stem. When the actuator or handle rotates the butterfly valve stem 90°, the disc also rotates 90° to become parallel to the flow. Partial rotation allows for the flow to be throttled or proportional.
Butterfly valves used for modulating services can have a linear or an equal percentage characteristic.
The symbol for a butterfly valve is shown below:
Butterfly valves come in different designs, each serving specific applications and pressure ranges. Butterfly valves can be categorized based on their disc closure design, connection design, and actuation method.
Butterfly valves can be concentric or eccentric depending on the location of the stem in relation to the disc’s centerline and the surface angle of the valve seat.
The most basic design of a butterfly valve is a centric or concentric butterfly valve. The stem passes through the disc’s centerline, and the seat is the inside diameter periphery of the valve body (Figure 4 on the left). This zero-offset valve design is known as resilient-seated because efficient sealing relies on the flexibility of the rubber seat. When closing, the disc first comes into contact with the seat at around 85° during a 90° rotation. Concentric butterfly valves are suitable for low-pressure ranges.
An eccentric butterfly valve’s stem does not pass through the centerline of the disc but instead behind it (opposite of flow direction), as seen in Figure 4 (right). A single offset butterfly valve’s stem is directly behind the disc’s centerline. This design reduces how much the disc contacts with the seal before the valve fully closes. Less contact improves the service life of the valve.
In a double offset or doubly eccentric butterfly valve, the stem is behind the disc’s centerline with an additional offset to one side (Figure 5). The stem’s double eccentricity design reduces disc and seat contact to the last 1-3° of disc closure.
A triple offset butterfly valve (TOV or TOBV) is suitable for critical applications and has a similar design to a double offset butterfly valve. The third offset is the disc-seat contact axis. The seat surface has a conical shape which, coupled with the same shape at the ridge of the disc, results in minimal contact before full closure of the valve. A triple offset butterfly valve is more efficient and experiences less wear. Triple offset valves are often made of metal seats for a bubble-tight shut-off. The metal seats make butterfly valves suitable for higher temperature ranges.
High-performance butterfly valves use the pressure in the pipeline to increase the seal between the seat and the disc edge. These butterfly valves have higher pressure ratings and are prone to less wear.
Butterfly valves can connect to a piping system in different ways. The most common connections are wafer type, lug type, and flange.
The most cost-effective version, a wafer-style butterfly valve sandwiches between two pipe flanges. Long bolts that cross the entire valve body connect the pipe flanges. This connection type is suitable for sealing against bi-directional differential pressures and preventing backflow in systems designed for universal flow. Some versions of this valve have flange holes outside the valve body (Figure 6 labeled A). Gaskets, o-rings, and flat valve faces on both sides of the valve combine together to accomplish efficient sealing.
The lug-style butterfly valve has threaded inserts (lugs) outside the valve body (Figure 6 labeled C). Two sets of bolts, without nuts, connect pipe flanges to each side of the bolt inserts. This design enables the disconnection of one side without affecting the other’s function for dead-end service. Lug-style butterfly valves used in dead-end service generally have a lower pressure rating. And unlike wafer butterfly valves, lug-style valves carry the weight of the piping through the valve body.
Butterfly valves can be operated manually by handles and gears or automatically by electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic actuators. These devices allow precise disc rotation to positions ranging from fully open to fully closed. A brief description of the different types of actuation methods is below.
Manually actuated butterfly valves are inexpensive and easy to operate. The two common methods are:
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Power-operated actuators are a reliable method of controlling butterfly valves from a remote location. Butterfly valve actuators also make rapid operation of larger valves possible. These actuators can be designed to fail-open (stay open in case of actuator failure), fail-close (remain closed in case of actuator failure), and often come with a manual actuation method in case of failure, as seen in Figure 8. The three types of automatic actuators are listed below:
A butterfly valve actuated electrically has two wiring possibilities:
Butterfly valves are used in diverse industries and applications such as pharmaceutical, chemical and oil, food, water supply, wastewater treatment, fire protection, gas supply, fuel handling, and sanitary fittings. Butterfly valves for water are used as control valves in pipelines to shut off water flow. These valves are available in huge sizes and are suitable for handling slurries and liquids with relatively large amounts of solids at low pressures. Stainless steel butterfly valves are used in corrosive and marine environmental applications as the material is highly durable and resistant to corrosion.
Typically, a butterfly valve with similar characteristics to a ball valve is cheaper, easier to install, and has a smaller installation footprint. However, due to the disc in butterfly valves, they cannot be pigged for cleaning purposes. Ball valves are advantageous for high-pressure, small diameter applications as they are better suited for higher pressure differences and cause minimal pressure drop over the valve. Butterfly valves have a relatively simple design with fewer moving parts and fewer pockets/traps for media. Therefore they are easier to repair and cheaper to maintain. For small pipe diameters a ball valve is typically better suited to the torque and cost. The torque and cost advantages of butterfly valves appear around DN 50 and upwards. Read our article on ball valves vs butterfly valves for a detailed comparison between both valve types.
Butterfly valves are used for on-off or modulated fluid control.
Yes, butterfly valves can be used for liquids and gasses, but not bulk solids.
Butterfly valves are lightweight and can be used for both on-off and modulated fluid control.
According to the British Valve and Actuator Association, a butterfly valve is “a valve in which the obturator rotates about an axis at right angles to the direction of flow, and in the open position, flow passes around the obturator.”
In other words, a butterfly valve consists of a circular disc or plate built with a stem through the middle or attached offset. When opened, the disc pivots 90° in the valve bore, aligning with the flow and creating a nearly unrestricted flow path. Like ball valves, butterfly valves rotate 90° to enable quick shutoff.
Single-offset butterfly valves have a stem that is located behind the disc. There are few, if any, valves of this type on the market today because of the development of the double-offset, or high-performance, valve. The single offset of the stem causes the disc to contact the seat with 3° to 4° left to travel; this design was enacted because less seat contact is thought to enable longer valve life.
Double-offset (high-performance) butterfly valves have a disc with two offsets and can be rated up to 1,480 psi [10 MPa]. Similar to a single-offset design, the double-offset butterfly valve has a stem which is located behind the disc. With the high-performance butterfly valve, the second offset’s stem is moved once more off the center of the disc to one side. This offset geometry enables the 90° disc rotation to rub over the seat for only 1° to 3° of the 90° rotation.
The double-offset butterfly valve is used in systems requiring higher pressure resistance. The disc is positioned in the center of the pipe bore and arranged to increase sealing ability and decrease wear to the valve.
WKM valves include high-performance butterfly valves that are ideal for handling water, oil, steam, and gas in a cost-effective, lightweight design. Their corrosion-resistant, single-component thrust bearing and disc spacer reduces body wear and helps ensure positive centering of disc in the valve bore.
Both resilient and high-performance butterfly valves can be operated by handles, gears, or actuators. These devices move the valve disc to the optimal position for complete shutoff or fully open the valve. Resilient and high-performance butterfly valves are used mainly in the water, chemical, and petrochemical industries and can also be used in fuel handling systems, power, and many other applications.
Triple-offset valves (TOVs) are applied in difficult services in which reliable performance under harsh conditions is required. Exactly like a double-offset valve, the stem is located behind the disc and offset to one side (double offset). The third offset is the geometry of the seating surface. This seating surface creates a cone shape of the disc and seat that wedges into the seat with minimal contact between the sealing surfaces until the valve is fully closed. By reducing the amount of contact that the seat has with the disc, sealing becomes more efficient, and the life of the valve is extended.
Unlike single- and double-offset butterfly valves, TOVs are typically metal seated. The Cameron WKM TOV has a metal-seat design, which enables achieving zero leakage (per API 598) in either direction for extreme services. The true triple-offset geometry of the WKM TOV enables bubble-tight (per API 598) sealing to create a fully bidirectional zero-leakage shutoff valve.
TOVs are commonly used in steam, chemical, refining, and offshore oil and gas applications up to 1,400 degF [760 degC]. The rugged metal seats can also withstand a high degree of abrasion and shock and, with appropriate material selection, can also be utilized in cryogenic services such as LNG and natural gas liquids facilities.
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