Abstract
The mal-distribution of gas-oil-water multi-phase flow in parallel petroleum processing pipelines can directly affect the working condition of the separators. In this paper, the influence of different factors on the flow distribution and the characteristics of gas-oil-water distribution in parallel pipelines was investigated by three-dimensional CFD numerical simulation. Firstly, four different simulation models are established based on different arrangement types of parallel pipelines. The simulation results show that the distribution of gas-oil-water flow in the radial entry symmetrical two-stage pipe-laying simulation model was the most uniform among the four simulation models. Then, four radial entry symmetrical two-stage pipe-laying simulation models with different distance between branch pipes were establish. From the simulated results, it can be found that the distance has no effect on the distribution of gas-oil-water flow in each branch pipe, but great influence on distribution of flow rate in each branch pipe. Finally, the influence of the inlet flow characters on the flow distribution is investigated. It can be found that the “bias flow” phenomenon of the parallel pipelines decreasing with the increase of the inlet flow velocity, the gas content of inlet flow and the water content of inlet liquid.
