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27.10.2015
Multiphase flow terms, notation
Gas Ug
Oil Uo
Water
Uw
Void fraction: Ag / A
Ag
Oil holdup: o Ao / A
A
Ao Water holdup: w Aw / A
Aw Total holdup: o w
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Multiphase flow terms, notation
y
z G
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Thin film
Real stratified flow
g
o g Continuous gas
o Gas bubbles in oil
w Gas bubbles in water
oc Continuous oil
o Oil drops in gas
od Oil drops in water
o wc Continuous water
w Water drops in gas
w od
wd
wd Water drops in oil
Thin liquid film on upper wall
oc wc
4
Flow regimes
Depend on gas
• phase velocities
• phase quantity oil
• pipeline orientation
• flow system
• gas/liquid
• liquid/liquid
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Flow regimes: Near horizontal
Gas/liquid regimes:
• Stratified
• Annular
Slug
• Bubble
Liquid/liquid regimes:
• Stratified (separated)
• Partly separated/dispersed
• Dispersed oil/water flow
Flow regimes: Near vertical
Gas/liquid regimes:
:.
.:.:.:
• (a-b) bubble flow
.:
.:.:
.: .: .: :.
• (c-d) slug/churn flow
.:
• (e) annular flow .: .:.:: :
..::
..:.
.:
.:.:
.:
.:.:
:.
Liquid/liquid regimes: .:
Dispersed
.:
a b c d e
Transition criteria
Liquid velocity
Bubble
Slug
Large Wave
Stratified
Gas velocity
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Flow regime transitions
• The most important flow regime transition in pipelines
is from stratified flow to slug flow
• Two conditions must be fulfilled for slug flow to exist:
• Stratified flow must be unstable (Kelvin-Helmholtz instability)
• Slugs that are formed must be able to grow (Minimum slip)
• The Kelvin-Helmholtz criterion tells that the stratified
flow region gets smaller with increasing pressure
• Experimental data show that the slug flow region also
gets smaller with increasing pressure
• For high pressure we get a region of large wave flow
in between stratified and slug
In between
USL
USG
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Multiphase Flow Main Challenges
• Pressure loss
• Liquid management
• Pipeline diameter selection
• Liquid inventory control
• Normal operation
• Water accumulation
• Rate changes, shut-down and Restart
• Pigging
• Sizing of process equipment, e.g. separators/slug catchers
• Prediction and control of slugging
Stratified flow in horizontal gas condensate pipe
p1 Forces on Forces on Forces on
gas condensate water p2
Ug
Uh
Uw
Pressure drop
Liquid inventory
Pressure drop
Gravity dominated flow
Liquid inventory
1-phase pressure drop Production rate
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Pipe diameter selection
• Too small diameter:
• Large pressure drop due to friction at high production rates
• Too large diameter:
• Too low velocity
• High holdup and flow instabilities at low production rates
• Large liquid surges during production start-up or ramp-up
• Possibly even severe slugging
• More expensive pipelines
• In 1-phase flow you can just make the pipe big enough
• In multiphase flow you have to balance capacity needs
with need to avoid liquid accumulation and instabilities
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Liquid surge during ramp-up
Liquid inventory
Q1 Q2 Production rate
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Potential problems in multiphase flow
• WATER
• Corrosion 5
Holdup
400
0 0
0 20000 40000 60000 80000
Pipeline Distance
Potential problems in multiphase flow
• SHUT-IN/RESTART and RATE CHANGES
• Liquid redistributes due to gravity during shut-in
• On startup, liquid in dips can exit the pipeline as large slugs
as flow is ramped up
gas
liquid
Flow rate
A: Slug build-up
gas
B. front arrival liquid
A B C
Flowrate
D
C. slug surface
D. Pig arrival
Tim e
Potential problems in multiphase flow
A. Slug formation C. Gas penetration
• SEVERE SLUGGING
• A: Low spots fills with liquid and
flow is blocked
• B: Pressure builds up behind the
blockage B.Slug production D. Gas blow-down
• C&D: When pressure becomes
high enough, gas blows liquid
out of the low spot as a slug
23
CFD models for multiphase flow
• Standard CFD commercial codes are widely used for
simulating laminar and turbulent single phase flow
• Multiphase flow give us several new challenges
• Where is the interface?
• Large scale interfaces (stratified flow), small scale interfaces
(bubbly flow) or both at the same time
• Continuous phases typically described by Euler methods
(i.e. Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations)
• Dispersed phases typically described by either Lagrange
methods (tracking each bubble/drop/particle) or Euler methods
• More difficult when a phase is both continuous and dispersed
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Eulerian CFD methods for multiphase flow
• Diffuse interface methods
• Volume of Fluid (VOF) method
• Computes volume fraction of each phase in each control volume
• Level Set method
• Interface given as zero level of an auxiliary function
• Phase Field method
• Extra conservation equation for «phase field» across interface
• Sharp interface methods
• Front tracking – explicit interface tracking
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1D versus CFD multiphase flow models
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Why are CFD models impractical for pipelines?
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