CFD Simulation of Two Phase Flow and Hydrate Prediction in a Pipeline

Pipeline-risers systems are frequently encountered in the petroleum industry
especially in the offshore platforms. It is also a common feature that in oil and gas
production and transportation to have an existing multiphase flow. However due to
the presence of more than one phase in the system, an analysis of the physical
properties of such a fluid flow is difficult. In the case of two-phase flows in pipelines,
flooding of the separation facilities could be expected due to the generation of severe
slugs at the bottom of the riser. The size and frequency of the slugs are functions of
the accumulation and displacement of liquid at the base of the riser. They can be
controlled with an adequate model. Due to this phenomenon, significant advances
have been made towards using computational fluid dynamics methods (CFD) to
model the pressure gradient of two-phase flows in pipelines. The aim of this research
project is to apply CFD methods to determine the pressure gradient in two phase flow
pipelines and to simulate severe slugging phenomenon in pipeline- riser system using
various empirical correlations methods. The results are compared with previous
mathematical models where the possibility of hydrates formation is determined. Due
to unavailability of experiment data, further validation of results cannot be achieved.
The model can be used to design new pipeline riser-system or to adjust the operation
of existing systems to prevent the occurrence of severe slug flow.