Influence of wall friction on flow parameters in natural gas transmission pipeline

Abstract

A mathematical model and computational algorithm are derived for the prediction of natural gas pipeline flow. Non-isothermal and compressible steady state flow is considered. Heat transfer between gas flow and surroundings is taken into account together with the heat generation due to the gas friction on the inner pipeline wall. The computational algorithm is based on the marching procedure with defined initial conditions. The predicted thermal effect of the wall friction is validated by the simulation of a case that is available in the open literature. The influence of heat generation by gas wall friction in the long transmission pipeline on gas pressure and temperature is evaluated. Differences between results obtained with and without the heat generation due to gas wall friction are analysed. The heat generation due to gas friction on the pipeline inner wall has an influence on the gas temperature change along the pipeline, while its influence on the pressure drop is negligible. These detailed results are novel since most of the previously published results on non-isothermal gas flow did not take into account the thermal effect of the gas wall friction or the influence of this effect was not evaluated. The presented results are a support to the gas pipeline design methods and operational analyses.