Experimental Study of High-Viscosity Oil/Water/Gas Three-Phase Flow in Horizontal and Upward Vertical Pipes

The onshore and offshore production of oil and natural gas is characterized by the multiphase flow in ducts and pipes, which are interconnected by various equipments such as wellhead, pumps, compressors, processing platforms, among others. The transport of oil and oil products is essential to the viability of the sector, but is susceptible to failures, that can cause great environmental damage. Considering this necessity of the transportation sector of oil and derivatives, leakage in pipelines with curved connections, are the object of study for various researchers. In this sense, this work contributes to the study of three-phase flow (oil-water-gas) in a curved pipe (90°) using Computational Fluid Dynamics. The physical domain is constituted by two tubes of 4 meters trenched by a 90° curve, with the poring whole in the curvated accessory. The mathematical model is based on a particle model, where the oil is considered as a continuous phase and the water and gas as a particulate phase. The SST (Shear Stress Transport) turbulence model was adopted. All simulations were carried out using the Ansys CFX® 12.1 commercial code. Results of the pressure, velocity and volumetric fraction of the phases are presented and discussed.

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Measurement of water-to-liquid ratio of oil-water-gas three-phase flow using microwave time series method

Measurement ◽

10.1016/j.measurement.2019.03.054 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 140 ◽

pp. 511-517 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chaojie Zhao ◽

Guozhu Wu ◽

Haifeng Zhang ◽

Yi Li

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Phase Flow ◽

Series Method ◽

Liquid Ratio ◽

Three Phase ◽

Three Phase Flow ◽

Time Series Method ◽

Oil Water ◽

Microwave Time ◽

Water Gas

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The Flow Pattern Transition and Water Holdup of Gas–Liquid Flow in the Horizontal and Vertical Sections of a Continuous Transportation Pipe

Water ◽

10.3390/w13152077 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 2077

Author(s):

Guishan Ren ◽

Dangke Ge ◽

Peng Li ◽

Xuemei Chen ◽

Xuhui Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Experimental Data ◽

Flow Pattern ◽

Liquid Mixture ◽

Vertical Section ◽

Flow Patterns ◽

Phase Flow ◽

Three Phase ◽

Three Phase Flow ◽

Oil Water ◽

Water Gas

A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the flow pattern transitions and water holdup during oil–water–gas three-phase flow considering both a horizontal section and a vertical section of a transportation pipe simultaneously. The flowing media were white mineral oil, distilled water, and air. Dimensionless numbers controlling the multiphase flow were deduced to understand the scaling law of the flow process. The oil–water–gas three-phase flow was simplified as the two-phase flow of a gas and liquid mixture. Based on the experimental data, flow pattern maps were constructed in terms of the Reynolds number and the ratio of the superficial velocity of the gas to that of the liquid mixture for different Froude numbers. The original contributions of this work are that the relationship between the transient water holdup and the changes of the flow patterns in a transportation pipe with horizontal and vertical sections is established, providing a basis for judging the flow patterns in pipes in engineering practice. A dimensionless power-law correlation for the water holdup in the vertical section is presented based on the experimental data. The correlation can provide theoretical support for the design of oil and gas transport pipelines in industrial applications.

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