Oil–Water Hydrodynamics Model during Oil Displacement by Water in Down-Hill Mobile Pipeline

Abstract

In the process of water displacing oil within mobile pipelines, it is common that the oil tends to accumulate at the elevated sections of inclined pipelines, leading to an issue of residual oil accumulation. In this paper, the mechanism of carrying accumulated oil out of the pipeline with water flow is discussed. Taking the residual oil layer in down-hill pipelines as a research object, a hydrodynamic model of the water-oil displacement process is established based on the theory of liquid–liquid two-phase flow and the application of the momentum transfer equation. It has been found that the use of this model can enhance the computational speed by 15% without affecting the accuracy of the calculations. Subsequently, the model is used to analyze the impact of different initial water-phase velocities, inclination angles, initial oil-phase heights, and pipeline diameters on the oil-carrying process of water flow. The results indicate that increasing the initial water-phase velocity, the angle of inclination, and the initial oil-phase height all enhance the fluctuation in the oil–water interface, making it easier for the oil phase to be carried away from the pipeline. Conversely, when all other parameters are held constant, an increase in the pipeline diameter tends to stabilize the oil–water interface, thereby making it more difficult for the residual oil to be carried away by the water flow.