Oil-water two-phase flow in onshore pipelines

Authors

  • Oldrich Joel Romero Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)
  • Isabela Braga Pereira Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)
  • Hugo Candiá Saad Agencia Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5944/ribim.19.2.42446

Keywords:

Heat exchange, Oil pipeline, Two-phase flow, Pressure drop, Pipesim

Abstract

Computational tools for simulation of multiphasic flow in oil pipelines are of great importance for the determination of the economic feasibility of the production in oilfields. The present article presents the mathematical and numerical modeling of the oil biphasic flow in a partially submerged onshore pipeline. The biphasic behavior of the heavy oil of 13,2 ºAPI is translated by the Dukler correlation. The oil’s viscosity is regarded as dependent on the temperature and on the API density of the oil by means of the Hossain correlation. The pipeline transports the oil from a collecting station to a storage center and consists of three sections. The first and third sections are above ground and are in contact with the external environment. The intermediate section is sitting on the bed of a river and is the critical part of the pipeline, once high heat losses are observed. The influence on the type of pipe insulation in the pressure and temperature gradients was analyzed with the aid of commercial software Pipesim®. The results show that the use of isolation when appropriately designed in terms of material quality and thickness is of utmost importance to maintain the heat transfer at low levels, to ensure the movement of fluids in long sections without compromising the system operation.

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Published

2015-10-01

How to Cite

Romero, O. J., Braga Pereira, I., & Candiá Saad, H. (2015). Oil-water two-phase flow in onshore pipelines. Revista Iberoamericana de Ingeniería Mecánica, 19(2), 43–56. https://doi.org/10.5944/ribim.19.2.42446

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