On the Numerical Modeling of Slug and Intermittent Flows in Oil and Gas Production

Abstract

Recent advances on the modeling of two-phase flows in pipes have shown that the accurate modeling of Two-Fluid equations allow the dynamic simulation of various regimes within a single numerical framework, diminishing the empiricism associated with the flow-pattern dependent closure relations. Such “Regime-Capturing” approaches have been traditionally called “Slug-Capturing”, as a reference to dynamic simulations of stratified-to-slug transition. In this paper, we will outline several examples of applications, ranging from horizontal stratified wavy, slug and annular flows, to vertical annular and intermittent flows. Vertical flow has been a bottleneck in Slug Capturing due to ill-posedness of the Two-Fluid Model. Ill-posedness of the model equations will be briefly addressed along with different regularization methods and stabilizing terms based on physical behavior, such as shape profile factors and dynamic pressure contributions. In order to numerically solve the governing system of equations, the finite volume method is employed with Upwind and second order TVD spatial discretization schemes, along with first order time discretization. Flow parameters such as temperature and pressure drop are determined as well as film thickness and wave characteristics of both annular and stratified flow, and slug velocity, length and frequency in slugging cases. Comparison with experimental data for annular, slug and stratified flows, with different fluids and pipeline configurations are presented, illustrating the good performance of the methodology.