TITLE:
Numerical Analysis of Heavy Oil-Water Flow and Leak Detection in Vertical Pipeline
AUTHORS:
João Victor Nunes de Sousa, Cristiane Holanda Sodré, Antonio Gilson Barbosa de Lima, Severino Rodrigues de Farias Neto
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Oil; Multiphase Flow; Leakage; Numerical Simulation
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
11,
2013
ABSTRACT: Pipeline is a conventional, efficient and economic way for oil
transportations. The use of a good system for detecting and locating leaks in
pipeline contribute significantly to operational safety and cost saving in
petroleum industry. This paper aims to study the heavy oil-water flow in
vertical ducts including leakage. A transient numerical analysis, using the ANSYS-CFX? 11.0 commercial
software is performed. The mathematical modeling considers the effect of drag
and gravitational forces between the phases and turbulent flow. Mass flow rate
of the phases in the leaking orifice, the pressure drop as a function of the
time and the velocity distributions are presented and discussed. We can
conclude that volumetric fraction of phases and fluid mixture velocity affect
pressure drop and mass flow rate at the leak hole.