Computational fluid dynamics and experimental investigation of inlet flow rate effects on separation performance of desanding hydrocyclone

Abstract

Sand has significant adverse effects on oil production by increasing unnecessary energy loss and wear. A hydrocyclone is one of the most important pieces of equipment for a desanding system. In this work, the standard hydrocyclone was taken as the research object to perform an external characteristic experiment with similar parameter criteria. The separation efficiency and pressure drop were obtained by measuring the mass flow rate, inlet pressure, and outlet pressure, which were used to validate the accuracy of the numerical results. By employing a mixture multiphase flow model, numerical simulations were conducted to analyze the variation in the internal flow field and the separation efficiency of the standard hydrocyclone. The results showed that the optimal inlet flow range of the standard hydrocyclone was approximately 40–50 L/min, and the separation efficiency reached more than 90% with less energy loss. These results can serve as theoretical guidance for oil desanding systems.