APPLICATION OF FRACTAL GEOMETRY TO STUDY STRUCTURAL CHANGES OF GAS FLOWS

Abstract

Due to insufficiently efficient gas drying at processing units for gathering and preparing well products, a sufficient amount of liquid may remain in the transported flows. During the transportation products from gas condensate fields from platforms to onshore gathering points, complications arise due to precipitation of the liquid phase or, conversely, gas separation in the moving flow. In this regard, the selection of an adequate transportation mode and pipe-line diameter is of great scientific interest. The presence of a liquid phase, on the one hand, can change the structural forms of flow through the pipeline, and on the other hand, liquid can accumulate in low sections of the route and thereby reduce the capacity of the pipeline. The liquid phase also accelerates corrosion processes on the inner surface of the pipeline. In connection with the above, early diagnosis of the presence of a liquid phase in gas flows transported through main pipelines remains relevant today and requires the development of appropriate criteria. In this work, based on real measurements in sections of the main gas pipeline, was studied the dynamics of the gas flow’s main thermodynamic parameters (flow temperature and pressure). Based on the conducted research, was identified a stable relationship between the presence of liquid in the gas flow and the fractal dimension of time series for temperature, flow and pressure. The result is a relatively simple tool for diagnosing the presence of liquid in transported flows. Keywords: gas pipeline, gas-liquid flows, structural forms of flow, fractal dimension.