Study of multiphase pump front homogenizer on the performance of fluctuating gas-liquid two-phase incoming flow reforming

Abstract

As an important component of multiphase mixing technology in oilfield, the homogenizer plays the role of buffering the fluctuation of gas rate of incoming flow and gas-liquid homogenization, providing good inlet conditions for multiphase pumps. In this paper, the homogenizer designed and manufactured by ourselves is connected into the multiphase pump loop for experiment. The results show that the designed homogenizer can effectively improve the homogeneity of gas and liquid phases at the inlet of the multiphase pump, which in turn improves the pressurization capacity of the multiphase pump. The gas flow is buffered under slug flow condition, and the effective running time of multiphase pump is extended. The unsteady numerical simulation of the flow field in the homogenizer is carried out for three kinds of slug flow conditions. The results show that the homogenizer suppresses the fluctuation of gas content rate for the three blockage conditions. The gas content fluctuations of the outlet fluid were reduced by 71.3%, 64.7%, and 69.4%, respectively, compared with the incoming flow. In the homogenizer, the liquid phase entering the perforated pipe produced a significant jet phenomenon, which significantly enhanced the mixing with the gas phase. In the horizontal tube near the outlet, the gas phase floats due to gravity. The guide vane at the outlet effectively suppressed the gas-liquid stratification phenomenon that occurs here, which further improves the gas-liquid mixing at the outlet.