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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

ISBN CD: 1-56700-226-9

ISBN Online: 1-56700-225-0

International Heat Transfer Conference 13
August, 13-18, 2006, Sydney, Australia

THREE-PHASE FLOW PATTERNS AND PRESSURE DROP FOR HEAVY CRUDE OIL-WATER-GAS HORIZONTAL FLOW

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC13.p12.520
11 pages

Abstract

The pipe flow of an oil-gas-water mixture such as that involved in petroleum production is a complex thermo-fluid dynamical problem. The local pressure and temperature in the pipeline govern the phase equilibrium between oil and gas, the thermodynamic and thermo-physical properties of each phase and many undesirable phenomena such as asphaltene/paraffin depositions, hydrate formation, emulsion generation, etc. Together with the flow rates, they determine the three-phase flow pattern as well as the three-phase friction and heat transfer coefficients. Temperature and pressure drop control in underwater pipelines become crucial when viscous oils are involved. Pressure drop control techniques are aimed at friction reduction by avoiding oil-wall contact. One of the most important of them consists in continuously injecting water in the pipeline so as to create a water-assisted oil flow, in which a gas phase appears whenever the local pressure is below bubble point. This paper presents the flow patterns with the correspondent pressure drop measurements for three-phase water-assisted flow of a heavy crude oil with air in a horizontal 2.84 cm i.d. glass tube at room temperature. The phase superficial velocities used varied from 0.04 to 0.5 m/s for water, 0.01 to 22 m/s for gas and 0.02 to 1.2 m/s for oil. The data gathered are presented in the form of superficial velocity flow maps and pressure drop charts, showing the beneficial use of water-assisted flow when a viscous phase is present.