Evaluation of pipeline networks to predict an increase in crude oil flow rate

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of pipeline arrangement in the oil industry, especially for crude oil transportation. The need often arises for increasing the flow rate per unit pressure drop in pipelines. The usual and most economical solution to the problem is to place one or more lines parallel to the original, either partially or throughout the entire length. This paper evaluates this subject by considering the economic aspects. In this work, a single pipeline with length, L = 20000 m and inside diameter D1 = 0.5 m was considered, and three types of pipeline networks include parallel, series, and looped were compared with the single pipe. According to the results, the parallel network has the best performance in comparison with the other pipeline networks, but it needs high costs. The results showed that for the series pipeline, in constant diameter ratio (D2/D1), flow capacity increased by increasing fraction of length (L2/L). For the parallel pipeline, gain coefficient (G=QtQsingle ) increased exponentially with the diameter ratio. This study also showed that in a constant diameter ratio (D2/D1), by increasing L1/L, the gain coefficient increased in the looped pipeline. The results presented in this paper can allow researchers and engineers to evaluate and predict the oil flow rate in network pipelines.