GRAPHO-ANALYTICAL ANALYSIS OF OIL SPILLS WITH GRAVITY FLOW FROM MULTIPHASE PIPELINES

Abstract

It is important to determine the amount of oil spilled in order to assess the losses and environmental impacts caused by accidents during the operation of oil pipelines. In the article it was proposed a grapho-analytical method based on the analysis of accidental oil spills from pipelines for the correct determination of the amount of hydrocarbons released into the environment in different modes. It has been proved that the assumption that the flow of oil into the environment due to the fact that the atmospheric pressure during the accident is not at the maximum point of the route profile, but at the accident site (hole) is not correct. At present, in normative documents and literature sources, unlike monophasic flows, there are almost no correct methods for estimating and calculating oil and gas spills for multiphase flows. Considering the importance of determining in which part of the pipeline the oil will leak in case of real accidents, the studies were carried out on the basis of the compacted profile of the pipeline. In the article, it was identified oil spills, as well as the fact that the gravity-flow regime is 3-5% of the volume of the pipeline and the conditions under which the complete unloading of the pipeline is possible. Keywords: oil spill, gravity-flow, hydrostatic pressure, vapor pressure, compacted profile, grapho-analytical method.