Repeatability in a multiphase pipe flow case study

Andreas Strand,Christian Brekken,Paul Roger Leinan,Ingelin Steinsland,Leif Rune Hellevik

doi:10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2021.103886

Andreas Strand, Christian Brekken + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2021.103886

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Abstract

A high degree of repeatability is most often an underlying assumption for research and development based on multiphase flow experiments. In this paper repeatability in multiphase flow experiments are studied through an experimental campaign with 28 replicates for 11 unique settings.The experiments were conducted in a flow loop with multiple injections of oil, water and air. A high degree of repeatability was found, with relative replicate deviations in volume flow rates and pressure drops of 0.1% in magnitude. Further, several potential causes of replicate deviations were studied, and firmer control of temperature of the inflow fluids is proposed as a means to improve repeatability in volume flow rates and pressure.We conclude that for practical use, the presented category of multiphase experiments sufficiently meets underlying repeatability assumptions.

Highlights

Multiphase flow in pipelines occur in many industrial applications and is especially important in the oil and gas industry (Ladva et al, 2000; Bratland, 2010; Osiptsov, 2017; Sun et al, 2018)
Challenges of multiphase flow in pipes or channels include how the distribution of the phases in the cross section depends on the inflow rates, operational conditions, and thermodynamic state, leading to different multiphase flow regimes
We present highly unique experiments in a fixed multiphase pipe flow loop

Summary

Introduction

Multiphase flow in pipelines occur in many industrial applications and is especially important in the oil and gas industry (Ladva et al, 2000; Bratland, 2010; Osiptsov, 2017; Sun et al, 2018). The development of models and simulators for multiphase flow in pipelines requires extensive high quality experimental data to cover a large span of the possible flow conditions may occur in field in practice (Shippen and Bailey, 2012). In multiphase experiments it is common not to repeat an experiment for a given setting, or to have only a few repeated experiments for some settings in an experimental campaign (Khor et al, 1997; Oddie et al, 2003; Babadagli et al, 2015; Leporini et al, 2019) This practice relies on an implicit assumption that performing the same experiment will give the same, or very similar, outcomes for the quantities of interest

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