Abstract
Erosion caused by solid particles in a pipeline is one of the main problems endangering the safety production of the oil and gas industry, which may lead the equipment to malfunction or even fail. However, most of the previous studies focused on the standard elbow, and the erosion law of right-angle elbow and blind tee is rarely reported in the literature. This work aims to investigate the erosion law of different pipeline structures including 90° elbow, right-angle pipe, and tee pipe based on the production characteristics and engineering parameters of the gas field. An integrated CFD-DPM method is established including a realizable k-ε turbulence model, discrete phase model, and erosion rate prediction model. The accuracy of the model is evaluated by a series of experimental data of flow conditions of our previous work. Further, the erosion rate, pressure distributions, and particle trajectories in 90° elbow, right-angle pipe, and tee pipe under different flow velocities, particle mass flow rate, pipe diameter are investigated by applying the presented model. The results show that the blind tee has the most obvious growth rate, and the most serious erosion is located in the blind end of the pipe wall. The maximum erosion rate of the 1.5D is greater than that of the 3D elbow as a whole, and the 1.5D elbow is more concentrated in the serious erosion area. Furthermore, the erosion rate of the bend weld is much greater than that of the straight pipe weld. This study can provide a basis for the selection of different structural pipe fittings, thereby reducing the pipeline erosion rate and improving the integrity of the management of gas pipelines.
Highlights
Shale gas is a kind of unconventional natural gas existing in shale and mainly composed of methane, regarding as a clean and efficient energy resource [1]
Erosion Analysis of 1.5D/3D Elbow Erosion The curvature radius of 90◦ bends used in the gas field are mostly 1.5D and 3D, so we focus on comparing the erosion of these two different curvature radii under the gas field conditions
Steady state numerical simulations were conducted for 1.5D elbow, 3D elbow, right angle elbow and blind tee under gas field conditions to investigate the flow field characteristics and the erosion law of particles
Summary
Shale gas is a kind of unconventional natural gas existing in shale and mainly composed of methane, regarding as a clean and efficient energy resource [1]. In the process of shale gas exploitation, there are many challenges, one of which is the erosion of sand and gravel [2,3]. Some filtering measures are taken to filter out solid particles in the produced gas during shale gas exploitation, it still cannot completely prevent the passage of some small particles [4]. The solid particles are carried by high-speed flowing gas and continuously impact the pipe wall, causing pipeline erosion, especially in the position where the flow direction changes, such as elbows, tees, etc. The erosion of solid particles in single-phase or multiphase flow is a very complex process. CFD is the process of mathematically modeling a physical phenomenon involving fluid flow and solving it numerically using computational prowess [11]. CFD methods have gradually become one of the important methods for studying flow problems [12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
