A Study of Normal Slug Flow in an Offshore Production Facility With a Large-Diameter Flowline

摘要

Normal (hydrodynamic) slug flow in a pipeline/riser system was studied theoretically and experimentally in this paper. Experimental data were obtained for slug flow in which the length of liquid slugs was larger than the riser height. A transient mechanistic model of this phenomenon was also developed. A good agreement between the model predictions and experimental data was achieved. Simulations of slug flow in an offshore production system with a large-diameter pipeline were performed by use of the developed model. The simulation revealed that long hydrodynamic slugs can accelerate in the riser to a velocity five times greater than the average slug velocity in the pipeline. This fact should be accounted for in the development of operating strategies for such production systems.