Flow characteristics around the crack in pipeline

Abstract

Pipelines transport fluids especially petroleum and its products, the transportation process may face some problems due to the defects that can occur in the pipes. Cracks are the main defects that attack the pipes and reduce their performance. It is known that the flow around cracks in pipelines are complicated and affected by various factors, it worth to be considered before decision making on the pipeline integrity. In this study flow characteristics around the crack inside the pipeline has been investigated. The part of the pipe within the crack is the crack zone, where the flow behaviour is different with the rest of the pipe. The work carried out at the laboratory using pipes with different crack length and crude oil with known properties to observe the flow at the crack zone. Then the work theoretically analysed with computational fluid dynamics to model the flow. It is found that the fluid at the crack zone is going to be more viscous lead to accumulation and changes in the characteristics of the flow. The results revealed that the flow characteristics in cracked pipeline with no leakage depend on several factors; the size of the crack, temperature, pressure, velocity and fluid viscosity.