Investigation on gas-liquid two-phase frictional pressure drop in pipeline riser

Abstract

The pressure drop characteristics of gas-liquid two-phase flow in pipeline-risers are important to the design optimization of marine risers lifting oil and gas. In this study, experimental investigation on single-phase and air-water two-phase flow pressure drop characteristics in vertical and S-shaped risers have been carried out in a long-distance pipeline with the gas superficial velocities ranging from 0.03 to 6.2 m/s and the liquid superficial velocities from 0.02 to 1.3 m/s. The test loop with 50 mm i. d. Consists of a horizontal pipeline with 114 m in length, followed by a 16 m downward inclined section, and ended at a riser. The downward section is adjustable in inclination with various angle of −2°, −3°, −4° and −5° with respect to horizontal. A vertical riser and an S-shaped flexible riser were used in the experiment. The effects of flow and geometry parameters on two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier are studied. For flow parameters, the two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier increases with increasing the inlet gas and liquid superficial velocity. For geometric parameters, the two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier in S-shaped riser is larger compared to that in straight vertical riser. The existing correlations reported in the literature are evaluated. A single-phase friction factor correlation and a two-phase frictional pressure drop multiplier correlation for pipeline-riser system are developed. Comparison of the predicted value and the measured results shows good agreements.