In this paper, results are presented from an experimental comparison between a light hydrocarbon system from the North Sea and a model oil system in pipe flow. The experiments were carried out in order to compare similar fluid systems (density, viscosity, oil-water interfacial tension) with respect to pressure drop and flow pattern for horizontal flow. The results show significant deviations with respect to pressure drop and flow patterns for two and three-phase flow. This may contribute to the explanation of the discrepancies often revealed between multiphase models and measurements on multiphase flowlines in the oil and gas industry.
Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
oil technology,
pipe flow,
multiphase flow,
water,
hydrogen compounds,
carbon compounds,
density,
viscosity,
surface tension,
drops,
gases
1.
Sobocinski, D. B., 1955, “Horizontal Co-Current Flow of Water, Gas-Oil and Air,” M.S. thesis, Chemical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, OK.
2.
Trallero, J. L., 1995, “Oil-Water Flow Patterns in Horizontal Pipes,” Ph.D. thesis, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.
3.
Pan, L., 1996, “High Pressure Three-Phase (Gas/liquid/liquid) Flow,” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London, UK.
4.
Malinowsky, M. S., 1975, “An Experimental Study on Oil-Water and Air-Oil-Water Flowing Mixtures in Horizontal Pipes,” M.S. thesis, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.
5.
Laflin, A. N., and Oglesby, K. D., 1976, “An Experimental Study on the Effects of Flow Rates, Water Fraction and Gas-Liquid Ratio on Air-Oil-Water Flow in Horizontal Pipes,” B.S. thesis, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.
6.
Valle, A., and Utvik, O. H., 1997, “Pressure Drop, Flow Pattern and Slip for Two Phase Crude Oil/Water Flow: Experiments and Model Predictions,” Proc., Int. Conf. on Liquid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow and Transport Phenomena, Turkey.
7.
Utvik, O. H. Valle, A., and Rinde, T., 1998, “Pressure Drop, Flow Pattern and Slip for a Multi-Phase Crude Oil-Water Hydrocarbon Gas System,” Third Int. Conference on Multiphase Flow, ICMF98 Lyon, France.
8.
Solemani, A., Hewitt, G., and Lawrence, C. J., 1997, “Effect of Mixers on Flow Patterns and Pressure Drop in Horizontal Oil-Water Pipe Flow,” Proc., Int. Conf. on Liquid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow and Transport Phenomena, Turkey.
9.
Pal
, R.
, 1993
, “Pipeline Flow of Unstable and Surfactant-Stabilized Emulsions
,” AIChE J.
, 39
, No. 11
, pp. 207
–215
.10.
Ac¸ikgo¨z
, M.
, Franc¸a
, F.
, and Lahey
, R. T.
, 1992
, “An Experimental Study of Three-Phase Flow Regimes
,” Int. J. Multiphase Flow
, 18
, No. 3
, pp. 327
–336
.11.
Hall, A. R. W., 1992, “Multiphase Flow of Oil, Water And Gas in Horizontal Pipes,” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London, UK.
12.
Angeli, P., 1996,
13.
“Liquid-Liquid Dispersed Flow in Horizontal Pipes,” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London, UK.
14.
Haaland
, S. E.
, 1983
, “Simple and Explicit Formulas for the Friction Factor in Turbulent Pipe Flow
,” ASME J. Fluids Eng.
, 105
, pp. 89
–90
.15.
Kvandal, H. K., Valle, A., Robøle, B., and Arvesen, T., 1998, “Comparison Between Three-Phase Field Tests and Multiphase Simulation Code,” SPE49159.
16.
Valle, A., 2000, “Three Phase Gas-Oil-Water Pipe Flow,” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London, UK, pp. 418–419.
17.
Traykov
, T. T.
, and Ivanov
, I. B.
, 1977
, “Hydrodynamics of Thin Films. Effect of the Surfactants on the Velocity of Thinning of Emulsion Films
,” Int. J. Multiphase Flow
, 3
, No. 3
, pp. 471
–483
.Copyright © 2001
by ASME
You do not currently have access to this content.