Transient simulation of gas-condensate two-phase flow in pipes

Abstract

An algorithm for transient gas-condensate two-phase flow in pipes is developed in this paper. It adopts a two-fluid model for hydraulic simulation and a single energy model for thermal simulation. For ease of calculation, a temperature-based energy equation is derived from the law of conservation of energy. In order to consider the influence of the phase transition, a new mass transfer model is developed in terms of total mass flow rate. Based on these models, a SIMPLE(Semi-Implicit Methods for Pressure-Linked Equations)-like algorithm is proposed to simulate the transient gas-condensate two-phase flow. It consists of four steps: pressure and velocity correction, volume fraction solution, temperature calculation and property parameters update. Case study shows that the proposed algorithm could well simulate gas-condensate stratified flow with low liquid mass fraction and high liquid mass fraction. In addition, the algorithm could provide a more consistent result for transient gas-condensate two-phase flow.