Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Mathematical Modelling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

Transient modeling of non-isothermal, dispersed two-phase ow

in natural gas pipelines
Mohammad Abbaspour a,*, Kirby S. Chapman a, Larry A. Glasgow b
a
b

National Gas Machinery Laboratory, KSU, United States

Department of Chemical Engineering, KSU, United States

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 31 January 2008
Received in revised form 10 May 2009
Accepted 1 June 2009
Available online 16 June 2009

Keywords:
Homogeneous
Two-phase ow
Fully implicit method
Non-isothermal
Vaporliquid equilibrium
Natural gas pipeline

a b s t r a c t
Unsteady-state or transient two-phase ow, caused by any change in rates, pressures or
temperature at any location in a two-phase ow line, may last from a few seconds to several hours. In general, these changes are an order of magnitude longer than the transient
encountered during single-phase ow. The primary reason for this phenomenon is that
the velocity of wave propagation in a two-phase mixture is signicantly slower. Interfacial
transfer of mass, momentum and energy further complicate the problem. It is primarily
due to the numerical difculties anticipated in accurately modeling transient two-phase
ow that the state of the art in this important area is restricted to a handful of studies with
direct applicability to petroleum and gas engineering. A limited amount of information on
the subject of two-phase transport phenomena is available in the petroleum engineering
literature. Most of the publications for two-phase ow of gas assume that temperature is
constant over the entire length of the pipeline.
This study is the rst effort to simulate the non-isothermal, one-dimensional, transient
homogenous two-phase ow gas pipeline system using two-uid conservation equations.
The modied PengRobinson equation of state is used to calculate the vaporliquid equilibrium in multi-component natural gas to nd the vapor and liquid compressibility factors.
Mass transfer between the gas and the liquid phases is treated rigorously through ash calculation, making the algorithm capable of handling retrograde condensation. The liquid droplets are assumed to be spheres of uniform size, evenly dispersed throughout the gas phase.
The method of solution is the fully implicit nite difference method. This method is stable
for gas pipeline simulations when using a large time step and therefore minimizes the computation time. The algorithm used to solve the non-linear nite difference thermo-uid
equations for two-phase ow through a pipe is based on the NewtonRaphson method.
The results show that the liquid condensate holdup is a strong function of temperature,
pressure, mass ow rate, and mixture composition. Also, the fully implicit method has
advantages, such as the guaranteed stability for large time step, which is very useful for simulating long-term transients in natural gas pipeline systems.
2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Homogeneous two-phase ows are frequently encountered in a variety processes in the petroleum and gas industries.
In natural gas pipelines, liquid condensation occurs due to the thermodynamic and hydrodynamic imperatives. During
* Corresponding author. Present address: Weatherford International Inc., 15995 Barkers Landing, Suite 275, Houston, TX 77079, United States. Tel.: +1
832 201 4282; fax: +1 832 201 4300.
E-mail address: m.abbaspour@yahoo.com (M. Abbaspour).
0307-904X/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apm.2009.06.023

Downloaded from http://www.elearnica.ir

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Nomenclature
CD
CP
D
dmax
p
d
f
Fd
Fmlg
Fwg
Fwl
g
h
kij
n
N
P
Re
t
T
v
We
x
yg
Z

drag coefcient
specic heat at constant pressure
pipe diameter
maximum droplet diameter
average droplet diameter
Darcy friction factor
interfacial drag force
interfacial mass transfer force
wall friction force for gas phase
wall friction force for liquid phase
gravitational acceleration
specic enthalpy
binary interaction coefcient
time level
number of nodes
pressure
Reynolds number
time
temperature
velocity
Weber number
distance along the pipe
equilibrium gas volume fraction
compressibility factor

Greek characters
volume fraction
pipe roughness
density
X
heat ow
D
difference
h
angle of inclination of pipe to the horizontal
clg
mass rate of phase change from liquid to gas
l
viscosity
x
acentric factor
rm
surface tension for mixture

a
e
q

Subscripts
g
gas
i,i + 1
number of node in discretization
l
liquid
c
crirical
Superscript
n, n + 1 nth and (n + 1)th time levels respectively

horizontal, concurrent gasliquid ow in pipes, a variety of ow patterns can exist. Each pattern results from the particular
manner by which the liquid and gas distribute in the pipe.
The accompanying liquids affect the transportation efciency of the system. Most gathering pipelines (which typically
have liquid loads up to 100 barrels per million cubic feet of gas (bbls/MMSCF)) transport uids as multiphase components.
Most of the pipeline companies typically use dry gas models for transmission pipelines, where the liquid entertainment is
usually less than 10 bbls/MMSCF of gas [1].
Many researchers have tried to model the transient two-phase ow behavior of gasliquid in pipelines for different ow
regimes that are divided to two major areas, isothermal and non-isothermal.
1.1. Isothermal
Isothermal condition is the simplied version of non-isothermal condition that the effect of energy equation is neglected.
Scoggins [2] developed a three-equation isothermal model formulation based on individual mass conservation equation for

M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

497

two phases, and a mixture momentum equation for the two-phase mixture. Mass transfer across the gasliquid interface
was accounted for through the black oil model. Taitel et al. [3] presented a model for predicting ow pattern transition
during a transient two-phase ow. This model was based on separate conservation equations for mass and momentum
for each phase. The assumption of isothermal ow was also imposed and the results were presented for an airwater system.
Sharma [4] presented an improved formulation for stratied two-phase ow by including an interfacial pressure term.
Roy [5] improved the formulations, which were developed by Sharma [4] and developed a model for transient phenomena
in two-phase horizontal ow for homogeneous, stratied and annular ow patterns under isothermal conditions. However,
the iterative scheme used for evaluating the in situ liquid volume fraction and the no-slip liquid holdup exhibited poor convergence for rapidly changing ow rates.
Zhou and Adewumi [6] implemented an isothermal compositional multiphase hydrodynamic model for dispersed transient gas/condensate two-phase ow in pipelines. They used the well-posed modied Soos [7] partial pressure model in conservative form, which serves as the transient multiphase hydrodynamic model, and the phase behavior model for natural gas
compositional mixture. Adewumi [8] presented a new class of high-resolution hybrid higher-order schemes to solve a system of four non-linear hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDE) for gas/condensate problems.
Mahgerefteh et al. [9,10] used Method of Characteristic to simulate Full Bore Rupture of long pipeline containing condensable or two-phase hydrocarbon mixture. They modeled the pertinent conservation equation in conjunction with an equation
of state.
Lezeau and Thompson [11] described two common mathematical formulations of two-phase ow, multi-uid and driftux models. Multi-uid model provides a general framework for the mathematical description of multiphase ows. However
the multi-uid equations are not a complete description of a multiphase ow because they need to be supplemented by suitable constitutive relationships which govern the way the phases interact with each other (microscopic level). The drift-ux
model is characterized by the fact that the momentum equations applying to each phase are combined to form a total
momentum equation, which must be supplemented with constitutive relationships giving the so-called slip velocity between the phases.
1.2. Non-isothermal
Most of the publications for two-phase ow of gas assume that temperature is constant over the entire length of the pipeline. In some cases, a temperature-versus-distance prole is specied to reect changes in the surrounding environment.
Transient temperature effects are neglected in these models on the basis that for a long pipeline subject to rather gradual
time variations in ow rates and pressures, the uid will attain thermal equilibrium with the pipe wall very rapidly. The
other important factor inuencing the temperature distribution is the JouleThompson coefcient, which can be important
for variety of mass ow rates and gas compositions through the pipeline.
Doster [12] derived the conservation equations that described mass, momentum and energy transport in a multiphase
ow system from the classic NavierStokes equations for single-phase ows. He simplied the six-equation model to three
separate models including, ve-equation models, four-equation models and homogeneous equilibrium mixture (HEM) models. Five-equation models employ four phasic and one mixture equation to describe the two-phase system. Typically the energy equation is considered as a mixture equation in ve-equation model. The four-equation models are based on the
combination of two phasic and two mixture equations. The homogenous model or three-equation models are based solely
on the mixture equation and require both phases to be at saturation.
However, Doster [12] developed the non-isothermal equations, but the results and solution methods were not provided.
The current paper is the rst effort to develop a model for non-isothermal transient homogenous two-phase ow in gas pipeline systems using microscopic and macroscopic conservation equations. This model includes vaporliquid equilibrium in a
multi-component natural gas and the PengRobinson equation of state is used to calculate the vaporliquid equilibrium in
multi-component natural gases to nd the vapor and liquid compressibility factors and other properties. Furthermore ash
calculations are used to determine the vapor and liquid mole fractions that are used to nd the mass transfer between the
phases. The result of the ash calculation is compared with Vincent and Adewumi [13] to conrm the accuracy of our ash
calculation used for two-phase ow simulation.

2. Governing equations
Homogeneous two-phase ow occurs when either of the two phases owing simultaneously in the pipeline is completely
dispersed in the other. In horizontal pipelines this takes place at very high liquid rates (dispersed bubble ow) or at very high
gas rates coupled with low liquid loading (mist ow). The following assumptions are used in this paper:

Transient conditions.
One-dimensional ow.
Non-isothermal condition.
Homogeneous two-phase ow.
Phase behavior is described by ash calculation using the PengRobinson equation of state.

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Liquid droplets are uniformly dispersed in a continuous gas phase.

Liquid droplets are spherical and of uniform size.
The following equations are the continuity, momentum [6], and energy equations for liquid and gas phase [14,21]:
2.1. Continuity equation
Liquid phase

@
@
al ql al ql v l clg
@t
@x

Gas phase

@
@
ag qg ag qg v g clg
@t
@x

2.2. Momentum equation

Liquid phase

@
@
@P
al ql v l al ql v l v l al
 F wl F d F mlg  al ql g sin h
@t
@x
@x

Gas phase

@
@
@P
ag qg v g ag qg v g v g ag
 F wg  F d  F mlg  ag qg g sin h
@t
@x
@x

2.3. Mixture energy equation

The following equation is the modied version of the energy equation developed by Doster [12]:

"
( 
(   )#
 )
@T
@T
@P
T @ qg
T @ ql
al v l
ag v g
ag qg C p;g v g al ql C p;l v l
ag qg C p;g al ql C p;l
@x
@t
@x
qg @T p
ql @T p
" ( 
(   )
#
 )
 @v
 @v
@P
T @ qg
T @ ql
@v g 
@v 
al
1

ag
ag qg v 2g g ag qg v g l al ql v 2l l al ql v l
@t
qg @T p
ql @T p
@x
@t
@x
@t
!

X
A

 ag qg v g al ql v l g sin h  clg hg  hl

v 2g v 2l
2

where

 
 

@q
q
T @Z
 1
Z @T P
@T P
T

2.4. Conservation of phases

ag al 1

One of the difculties of two-phase ow analysis in pipelines is to dene appropriate constitutive equations for relating
some relevant forces such as the drag force Fd, wall/uid interaction force Fwg, and interfacial momentum transfer Fmlg to
the primary measurable variables, such as vg, vl, ag, and al. The following equations present the constitutive equations for
this paper:
2.5. Wall friction forces

F wg

ag fg qg v g jv g j
2D

and

F wl

al fl ql v l jv l j
2D

M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

499

There exist different friction factor equations used for the wall friction force equations for gas and liquid phases. In this
study, the Chens [15] equation is used (functions of Reynolds number and pipe roughness) as follows:

(
"
#)
1
e
5:0452
1  e 1:1098 5:8506
p 2 log
log
0:8981

Reg
2:8257 D
3:7065D
fg
Reg

10

(
"
#)
1
e
5:0452
1  e 1:1098 5:8506
p 2 log
log
0:8981

Rel
2:8257 D
3:7065D
Rel
fl

11

and

2.6. Interfacial drag force

In the gascondensate system, the gas is considered the continuous phase. Therefore, the interfacial drag force per unit
volume is [13]:

Fd

3C D qg ag al v g  v l jv g  v l j
p
2d

12

where CD depends on the relative velocity between the gas and condensate, and the interfacial area over which drag is acting
p is the droplet diameter in dispersed ow.
depends on the ow regime and, d
The drag coefcient CD is found by Cliff et al. [16]:

CD



24 
0:42


1 0:15Re0:687
gl
Regl
1 42500Re1:16

13

gl

where

Regl

qg jv g  v l jdp
lg

The Weber number, We (ratio of inertia and surface tension force), is of great importance in the determination of the stability
of a single droplet and is evaluated from:

We

qg v g  v l 2 dp;max
rm

14

The term rm is the mixture surface tension. The suggested values of the critical Weber number that give the maximum stable
droplet diameter range from 8 to 20 [17]. However the liquid viscosity has a stabilizing effect that is shown as the stability
number l2l =ql dp;max rm . Hinze [18] gave an expression for Weber number which included the stability number as:

We 12 1

l2l

0:36 !

ql dp;max rm

15

Moeck [19] recommended that the Weber number be assumed as 13, which is adopted in this paper. To nd the average
droplet diameter to use in Eq. (12), Ulke [17] suggested:

p 0:06147dp;max
d

16

2.7. Interfacial momentum transfer

The interface mass transfer rate cannot be determined a priori but must be calculated simultaneously with the dependent
variables. In this study, we use the equilibrium cell method to evaluate the mass transfer rate. The mass transfer rate is the
difference in the equilibrium gas mass ow rate between the inlet and outlet. The velocity of the gas at outlet is assumed
equal to the velocity at the inlet, therefore the equation for the mass rate of phase transfer per unit volume is [13]:

clg

v g qg yg xDx  qg yg x 
Dx

17

The parameter yg is the equilibrium gas volume fraction which one can nd from vaporliquid equilibrium using ash
calculation.

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

If liquid evaporates and enters the gas stream, the momentum force that would be transferred depends on the mass rate
of phase change and the relative velocity of the gas and condensate:

F mlg clg v g  v l

18

2.8. PengRobinson equation of state (PR)

Peng and Robinson [20] presented an equation of state of the form:

RT
a

V  b VV b bV  b

19

where

N
X

xi b i

bi 0:077796
a

N X
N
X
i

RT ci
Pci

xi xj ai aj 0:5 1  kij

ai aci ai
RT ci 2
aci 0:457235
Pci


0:5
ai 1 mi 1  T 0:5
ri
If x < 0.5

mi 0:37646 1:54226xi  0:26992x2i

Otherwise

mi 0:379642 1:48503  0:164423  1:1016666xi xi xi

2.9. Numerical formulation using the fully implicit method
The fully implicit method consists of transforming Eqs. (1)(5) from partial differential equations to algebraic equations
by using nite difference approximations for the partial derivatives. Fig. 1 shows a mesh used in this transformation. The
pipe has N nodes and n time levels.
The partial derivatives with respect to time are approximated by:



n1
F n1
 F ni1  F ni
i1 F i
@F

@t
2 Dt

20

The spatial partial derivatives are written as:

n1
n1
@F F i1  F i

@x
Dx

21

F is a generic variable that represents:

F P; T; v g ; v l ; ag ; al

n+1

n
1

i-1

i+1

Fig. 1. Mesh of the solution.

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Table 1
Approximation of the individual terms at an interface between the nodes.
P

n1
Pi1
Pn1
i
2

n1
T i1
T n1
i
2

vg
vl
ag
al

Zl

v gn1
v n1
gi
i1

i1

Z nl

lg

an1
an1
l
l

ll

2
i1

Z nl
i

C pl

agn1
an1
gi
i1

Z ng

i1

C pg

2
v ln1 v n1
l
i1

Z ng

Zg

C npg

i1

C npg

2
C npl

i1

C npl

lngi1 lngi
2

lnl lnl
i1

Table 2
Composition and component critical properties of gas mixture [13].
Compound

MW

Mol.%

Tc (K)

Pc (kPa)

Methane
Ethane
Propane
n-Butane
Iso-butane
n-Pentane
Iso-pentane
Hype1
Hype2
Hype3
Nitrogen
Carbon dioxide

16.043
30.070
44.097
58.124
58.124
72.151
72.151
76.2
112.4
133.0
28.013
44.010

75.57
11.22
7.78
1.71
0.78
0.31
0.28
0.41
0.33
0.28
1.01
0.32

190.73
305.61
370.00
425.34
408.31
469.78
460.57
622.22
666.67
707.78
126.27
304.37

4604.32
4880.11
4249.24
3796.94
3648.02
3368.78
3381.19
2141.92
2106.42
2073.46
3399.11
7384.28

0.0115
0.0908
0.1454
0.1928
0.1756
0.2510
0.2273
0.26
0.28
0.295
0.223
0.2250

Table 3
Composition and properties of pseudo-ternary mixture.
Compound

MW

Mol.%

Tc (K)

Pc (kPa)

Pseudo-1
Pseudo-2
Pseudo-3

16.201
39.368
130.00

76.58
22.40
1.02

189.88
350.44
722.22

4588.426
4548.892
1585.792

0.008
0.14
0.408

Finally, Table 1 shows how the individual terms were approximated at an interface between the nodes.
Substituting Eqs. (20) and (21) and Table 1 into Eqs. (1)(5) results in ve sets of equations for each element and there
will be (5N  5) equations for a pipe. But from Eq. (7), there are N equations for N nodes, therefore the total number of equations become (6N  5). The number of unknown values at time level n + 1, which consists of pressure, temperature, gas
velocity, liquid velocity, gas fraction, and liquid fraction at each node, is 6N. Five equations will be obtained from boundary
conditions, and then there are 6N unknowns and 6N equations. These equations are completely non-linear and the Newton
Raphson method can be applied to solve these equations for two-phase, non-isothermal transient ows through a pipe.
3. Computational results and comparisons
The result of the ash calculation is compared with Vincent and Adewumi [13] to conrm the accuracy of our ash calculation used for two-phase ow simulation. The composition and critical properties of the natural gas are tabulated in Table
2.
To reduce the computation time these composition are broken down into a pseudo-ternary system. Table 3 shows the
pseudo-components for natural gas that appears in Table 2 [13].
Fig. 2 shows the ash curves for the natural gas with composition shown in Table 3 for various temperatures using the
PengRobinson equation of state.
To validate the accuracy of the result for ash calculation, Fig. 3 shows the comparison between the Vincent and Adewumi [13] and the present work. There is a slight difference between the results which created from the compressibility factor
calculation for vapor and liquid phases.
In this paper a simple horizontal pipe with the instantaneous closure of the downstream valve is considered. A pipe is
1600 m long and 304.8 mm in diameter has a natural gas mixture with three pseudo-ternary components. The composition
of the natural gas is shown in Table 3.

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Pressure (kPa)

15000

10000

5000

236 K
250 K
264 K
278 K
292 K
306 K
319 K

5
10
15
20
Equilibrium Liquid Volume Percent

25

Fig. 2. Flash curve for pseudo-ternary mixture.

Pressure (kPa)

15000

10000

T=277.78 K

5000
Present work
Vincent and Adewumi (1990)

0
0

2
4
6
8
10
Equilibrium Liquid Volume Percent

Fig. 3. Comparison of ash curve at T = 277.78 K.

28

28

X/L=0.0

24
X/L=0.5

Gas Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)

Gas Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)

24
X/L=0.6

20
16
X/L=0.8

12
8
4

X/L=1.0

0
-4

10
Time (sec)

X/L=0.0

20
16
12
X/L=0.5

X/L=0.6

X/L=0.8

0
15

20

-4

X/L=1.0

10
Time (sec)

15

20

Fig. 4. Comparison of gas mass ow rate history at ve points for (a) isothermal and (b) non-isothermal condition in 20 s of operation.

Initially steady-state ow is assumed along the pipeline with a mixture gas ow rate of 26 kg/s and inlet pressure 12 MPa.
At time zero the downstream valve is closed instantaneously, while the supply of gas mixture ow rate at the upstream end
is kept constant at the initial value. The absolute pipe roughness is 0.127 mm and the isothermal temperature is 300 K.
In this study, the fully implicit method is used to discretize the conservation equations. The time step is 0.2 s and the
number of nodes is 50 for this example. A very small step time and large number of nodes leads to more computation time
in xed period of simulation time. For this example, the fully implicit method can accept a large step time and small number
of node comparing to method of characteristic to get the same result. The grid independency shows that 50 nodes are enough

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Liquid Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)

Liquid Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)

1.5
X/L=0.0

X/L=0.5

X/L=0.8

0.5

X/L=1.0

-0.5

X/L=0.6

10
Time (sec)

15

20

2
X/L=0.0

1.5

X/L=0.5
X/L=0.6

0.5

X/L=0.8

X/L=1.0

-0.5

10
Time (sec)

15

20

a 1.85

b 1.85

Liquid Condensate Holdup (%)

Liquid Condensate Holdup (%)

Fig. 5. Comparison of liquid mass ow rate history at ve points for (a) isothermal and (b) non-isothermal condition in 20 s of operation.

1.8

1.75
X/L=0.0
X/L=0.5
X/L=0.6
X/L=0.8
X/L=1.0

1.7

1.65

10
Time (sec)

15

1.8

1.75

1.7

1.65

20

X/L=0.0
X/L=0.5
X/L=0.6
X/L=0.8
X/L=1.0
0

10
Time (sec)

15

20

Fig. 6. Comparison of liquid condensate holdup history at ve points for (a) isothermal and (b) non-isothermal condition in 20 s of operation.

2.5
X

=
/L

0.

0,

0.

0
5,

.6

,0

a
.8

1
nd

.0

1.5

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

.5

3
X /L
=0

2.5
X

1.5

=0
/L

.6

,0

1
nd
8a

.0

X/L=0.0

Liquid Condensate Holdup (%)

Liquid Condensate Holdup (%)

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

Fig. 7. Comparison of liquid condensate holdup history at ve points for (a) isothermal and (b) non-isothermal condition in 200 s of operation.

for this simulation using fully implicit method. Also the results show that the time steps smaller than 0.2 s have same behaviors as 0.2 s.
The long pipelines are often exposed to varying temperature conditions as a result of regional differences as well as
temporal climatic variations. One of the factors that play a signicant role in natural gas condensation is the pipeline

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M. Abbaspour et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 34 (2010) 495507

Liquid Condensate Holdup (%)

18
16
20 sec
80 sec
140 sec
200 sec

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

0.25

0.5
X/L

0.75

Fig. 8. Variation of liquid condensate holdup along the pipe for various time.

14
12
10
8

2
0

.2 5
X /L
=0

.2
X /L
=0

.1 5
X /L
=0

X /L
=0

L=
0 .0
X /L
=0
.0 5

.1

X/

Liquid Condensate Holdup (%)

16

X/L=0.45
X/L=0.4

X/L=0.3
X/L=0.35

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

a 330
325

310

305

X/L=0.0
X/L=0.5
X/L=0.6
X/L=0.8
X/L=1.0

X/L=0.35
X/L=0.3

320

Temperature (K)

Temperature (K)

Fig. 9. Liquid condensate holdup histories for non-isothermal condition for 200 s simulation for intermediate points between X/L = 0 and X/L = 0.45.

X/L=0.25

315

X/L=0.2
X/L=0.15

310

X/L=0.1

305

X/L=0.05

300

X/L=0.0

300
295
290

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

295

10
Time (sec)

15

20

Fig. 10. Temperature history at different points for 200 s and 20 s of operation.

temperature. Lower temperature generally illustrates more liquid condensate holdup. Apart from the season-imposed lower
temperature, declining temperature occurs as a result of JouleThompson cooling effect due to restricted ow in the pipes.
Fig. 4 shows the variation of gas mass ow rate with respect to time for different locations along the pipe. As shown in this
gure, the wave propagation period for non-isothermal condition is about 3.2 s which is almost half of the wave propagation

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time for the isothermal condition (6 s). This is because the system is treated non-isothermally where the response time is
lesser than the time for isothermal simulation in a linepack problem.
With the instantaneous closure of the downstream valve, the pipeline outlet pressure increases very sharply, then the
pressure wave propagates upstream at about 6 s and 3.2 s for isothermal and non-isothermal conditions respectively. At this
time, the wave reaches the upstream end, then reects and propagates downstream again. The time reection depends on
length of pipe and the wave speed which is function of pressure, temperature and properties of liquid and gas.

Isothermal Condition (X/L = 0.25)

2.5

2.5

Velocity (m/s)

Velocity (m/s)

1.5
1

Gas
Liquid

0.5
0

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

Gas
Liquid

Isothermal Condition (X/L = 0.5)

2.5

Velocity (m/s)

2.5

1.5
1
Gas
Liquid

0.5
0

50

100
Time (sec)

150

150

200

Non-isothermal Condition (X/L = 0.5)

Gas
Liquid

2.5

2.5

1.5
Gas
Liquid

0.5
0

100
Time (sec)

1.5

200

Isothermal Condition (X/L = 0.75)

50

0.5

Velocity (m/s)

Velocity (m/s)

1.5

0.5

Velocity (m/s)

Non-isothermal Condition (X/L = 0.25)

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

Non-isothermal Condition (X/L = 0.75)

1.5
Gas
Liquid

1
0.5

50

100
Time (sec)

150

200

50

100
Time (sec)

150

Fig. 11. Variation of gas and liquid speed in different location for isothermal and non-isothermal condition.

200

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Same procedure applies for liquid mass ow rate. As shown in Fig. 5, the liquid mass ow rate uctuates till reaches to
stable condition. As liquid holdup in non-isothermal condition is function of temperature and pressure, therefore the variation of liquid mass ow rate, especially for the nodes in downstream of pipe, is different with isothermal condition.
As shown in this gure, after rst wave reection (3.2 s) in upstream end, the liquid start to be appeared in pipe and liquid
appearance will move to the other locations of pipe as time increases. The condensate holdup occurring in a pipeline may not
necessarily follow the equilibrium liquid condensate curve (Fig. 2) and strongly depends on hydrodynamic behaviors, which
determine the pressure, temperature and liquid holdup of uid. Therefore, with changing the condition to non-isothermal
causes a signicant change in the liquid holdup.
Fig. 6 illustrates the calculated liquid condensate holdup (%) history at the locations explained in Fig. 4. Because the temperature along the pipeline is assumed a constant value for isothermal condition, the liquid condensate holdup is only a
function of pressure history. With increasing pressure, the liquid condensate holdup increases simultaneously.
As shown in this gure, the liquid holdup for non-isothermal increases similar to isothermal condition but with different
wave propagation time for X/L = 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0. The non-isothermal effect starts appearing in pipe inlet and liquid holdup suddenly increases at time = 3.2 s when the rst wave reection reach to the upstream end. As illustrated in Fig. 7, this
effect moves to other locations as time increases and reaches to X/L = 0.5 at time = 150 s. The interesting thing is that the
liquid holdup for X/L = 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 increases similar to the isothermal condition till 150 s beyond which the liquid
holdup starts to increase for X/L = 0.5. As time increases, the non-isothermal effect appears in entire pipeline. Fig. 8 illustrates
the variation of liquid condensate holdup along the pipe for various times. As shown in this gure as time increases the wave
penetrates and the liquid condensate holdup increases in different locations. Fig. 9 shows the variation of liquid holdup for
intermediate points between X/L = 0 and X/L = 0.5 where the non-isothermal effect starts appearing in pipeline.
Fig. 10 illustrates the temperature variation over a 20- and 200-s operation at various locations. For the case of the linepack example, a pipeline with single-phase gas ow has temperatures that are directly proportional to the pressure. However, for a two-phase ow the temperature is not only a function of pressure but also a function of liquid holdup, which is
elucidated in the Fig. 9. It is clear from both the gures that the instant at which the temperature stops increasing is the
instant where the liquid holdup suddenly starts increasing.
As an example, at X/L = 0.05 the liquid hold up exhibits a sudden transition (increase) at 15 s which is also the time instant
at which the temperature stops increasing after which the temperature slowly attains a steady state. The phenomena can be
better understood by appreciating that an increase in the liquid holdup causes an increased liquid phase. In the liquid phase,
the temperature ceases to be a strong function of pressure. However, as part of mixture in the pipe is in a gas phase where
the temperature is a strong function of pressure and part of the mixture is in a liquid phase where the temperature is no
more a strong function of pressure the liquid holdup become critical in determining the temperature the mixture in the pipeline. Obviously as the liquid holdup increases the inuence of the liquid phase overrides that of the gas phase and the total
temperature in the pipeline slowly attains a steady state.
If the liquid holdup suddenly changes, the variation of liquid speed is not related to gas speed anymore. Fig. 11 illustrates
the variation of gas and liquid speed at X/L = 0.25, X/L = 0.5, and X/L = 0.75 for isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. As
shown in this gure, gas and liquid speed are almost identical for isothermal condition due to the boundary conditions (gas
and liquid speed at inlet and outlet are considered to be equal), and similarly liquid holdup behavior for all locations in
pipeline.
But there is a signicant difference between gas and liquid speed for non-isothermal condition. Because the liquid holdup
starts to increase right from pipe inlet (Fig. 9) and transmit to outlet of pipe with increase in time, the difference between gas
and liquid speed in entrance region is more than at pipe outlet. As illustrated in this gure, at X/L = 0.25 gas and liquid speeds
have signicant differences, but for X/L = 0.5 and X/L = 0.75 the difference is less.
As already explained in Fig. 7, the variation of liquid holdup for X/L = 0.5, X/L = 0.6, X/L = 0.8 and X/L = 1.0 are same as isothermal condition, therefore the gas and liquid speed should be very close for these regions and are same as isothermal condition, which is clearly shown in Fig. 11 for X/L = 0.5 and X/L = 0.75.

4. Conclusion
In the area of homogenous two-phase, natural gas ow, most of the research done considers the steady state condition
assuming a temperature prole along the pipe or isothermal transient condition. However, as the results in this study show
the non-isothermal condition has a very signicant impact on the solution especially on liquid holdup, it becomes imperative
that any two-phase ow analyses incorporate the ndings of this study.
In this paper, the non-isothermal, transient homogenous two-phase ow gas pipeline model is developed using fully implicit nite difference technique. The conservation of continuity, momentum, and mixture energy equations are developed
and discretized for this study. The numerical results show that:
The liquid condensate holdup is a strong function of temperature, pressure and composition of mixture.
The wave propagation and deection dampen with increasing time in linepack problems.
The effect of non-isothermal conditions is very signicant on results in which the variation of liquid holdup is strongly a
function of pressure and temperature.

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507

The non-isothermal condition reaches stability faster than the isothermal condition in linepack problem.
There is a signicant difference between gas and liquid speed for non-isothermal condition.
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