Characterization of liquid‐liquid flows in horizontal pipes

Shi, Ji‐Quan; Yeung, Hoi

doi:10.1002/aic.15452

Cited by 34 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The present study is focused on the lubricated pipe flow (LPF) of heavy oils and bitumen, where a water annulus separates the viscous oil from the pipe wall. The benefit of LPF over other pipe flow technologies is that the annular water layer is found in the high shear region near the pipe wall, and thus much lower pumping energy input is required than if the viscous oil were transported alone at comparable process conditions …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the industrial application of LPF, some oil tends to permanently adhere to the pipe wall leading to the formation of an oil‐film, an effect called wall‐fouling . Frictional pressure losses in a fouled pipe are higher than those in an unfouled pipe under otherwise identical conditions . Unfortunately, the wall‐fouling layer cannot be avoided during pipeline operation in most industrial situations .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new approach to model friction losses in the water‐assisted pipeline transportation of heavy oil and bitumen

2019

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Continuous water-assisted flow (CWAF), where a water layer surrounds a viscous oil core, provides low energy, long distance transport of heavy oil and bitumen without requiring heating or solvent addition. In industrial applications of CWAF, the pipe wall is fouled by a thin coating of oil, an effect not considered in many studies of water-lubricated pipe flows. In the present study, a new method to model pressure loss in the water-assisted pipeline flow of heavy oil is introduced. The hydrodynamic effects produced by the wall-fouling layer are incorporated in the model as input parameters for CFD simulations. The most important of these parameters are the thickness of the wall-fouling layer and the equivalent hydrodynamic roughness it produces. The CFD methodology described here was developed on the ANSYS-CFX platform and is able to capture the effects of the wall-fouling layer, the hydrodynamic roughness produced by this layer, and the water hold-up. The new CFD model was validated using previously collected data from tests conducted in two separate pipeline loops (100 and 260 mm in diameter), using a range of oil viscosities, water fractions, and mixture velocities. Compared to existing models, the one presented here provides more accurate predictions and requires significantly fewer computing resources. Because the model was developed using a physics-based approach, it is a useful tool in evaluating the effects of pipe diameter, oil viscosity (or temperature), water cut, and mixture velocity on pressure losses in water-assisted heavy oil pipelines.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new approach to model friction losses in the water‐assisted pipeline transportation of heavy oil and bitumen

2019

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“…Additionally, dispersed slugs, plugs, and emulsions can form. None of these states are stable but systems rather switch between different flow types . By combining such fluid dynamics with precipitation reactions, we explore the structures formed in response to a sustained injection process.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Flow‐Induced Precipitation in Thin Capillaries Creates Helices, Lamellae, and Tubes

Knoll

Gonzalez

McQueen

et al. 2019

Chemistry A European J

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Precipitation reactions under flow in confined media are relevant to the control of pathological biomineralization, processes affecting aquifers, and challenges in the petroleum industry. Here we show that for a simple geometry, such conditions create macroscopic structures including helices, tubes, lamellae, slugs, and disordered patterns. All structures emerge when salt solution is slowly injected into thin capillaries filled with hydroxide solution. For the helices, the pitch is proportional to the pump rate revealing a constant period of 0.63 s. Different morphologies of the insoluble metal hydroxide can co‐exist causing random transitions along the capillary. On average, 15 % of the final system contains residual hydroxide solution. While mechanically stable for flow speeds above 25 mm min−1, structures collapse and sediment for slower injection speeds. Some of the observed features share similarities with precipitate tubes in chemical gardens and the dynamics of liquid–liquid pipe flow.

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“… a) Different nomenclatures are used by different authors. Here only the basic flow patterns as introduced in Brauner and Shi and Yeung are listed, including ST (stratified flow), CAF (core annular flow), I (intermittent flow, including slugs/plugs/bubbles of one phase in another phase), and D (dispersed flow).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The annular-water-continuous flow, either in the specific form of CF&OF, OPL&OF, or OLP&OF, is also referred to as water-lubricated flow in this paper. This annular-water-continuous flow corresponds to the continuous [26] and Shi and Yeung [27] are listed, including ST (stratified flow), CAF (core annular flow), I (intermittent flow, including slugs/plugs/bubbles of one phase in another phase), and D (dispersed flow). b) The term of continuous water-assisted (CWA) flow is used by the authors to describe the flow.…”

Section: Flow Patterns and Flow Mapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental investigation of high‐viscosity oil‐water flow in a horizontal pipe

2017

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An experimental investigation on high‐viscosity oil‐water flow in a horizontal pipe (I.D. = 26 mm) has been conducted. The oil viscosity investigated varied between 3800 and 16 000 mPa · s. Flow patterns observed in experiments are presented and flow pattern maps are reported. The inversion from oil‐continuous to annular‐water‐continuous is discussed. The average pressure gradient of oil‐continuous two‐phase flow can be reduced before the inversion to annular‐water‐continuous flow due to partial lubrication from discontinuous water streams. The stable water‐lubricated flow develops at a lower input water volume fraction with increase of the superficial oil velocity. An empirical criterion for the formation of stable water‐lubricated flow was proposed in terms of the oil phase Froude number and the input water volume fraction. The friction factor of water‐lubricated flow can be one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of single‐phase water flow and has a faster decrease with increase of the Reynolds number than that of single‐phase turbulent flow. These are linked to the oil fouling on the pipe wall. Models for the prediction of the pressure gradient of core flow proposed by different authors in the literature were evaluated with the experimental data.

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Characterization of liquid‐liquid flows in horizontal pipes

Cited by 34 publications

References 41 publications

A new approach to model friction losses in the water‐assisted pipeline transportation of heavy oil and bitumen

A new approach to model friction losses in the water‐assisted pipeline transportation of heavy oil and bitumen

Flow‐Induced Precipitation in Thin Capillaries Creates Helices, Lamellae, and Tubes

An experimental investigation of high‐viscosity oil‐water flow in a horizontal pipe

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