Three-phase gas-oil-water flow in undulating pipeline

摘要

Three-phase gas-oil-water(G-O-W) is common in wells and pipelines producing from mature reservoirs, imposing serious flow assurance problems. Therefore, prediction of flow behavior and characteristics is critical for optimal and sustainable production. In this study, experimental three-phase G-O-W slug flow in undulating pipelines were acquired and analyzed with respect to average liquid holdup, phase distributions and slug characteristics. The slug characteristics considered in this study include, translational velocity, slug length and frequency along the system. The objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the slug flow characteristics to improve the current understanding of G-O-W flow behavior in undulating pipelines and the effect of water cut on slug flow characteristics. Further objective is to modify and validate an in-house two-phase flow simulator and commercial transient multiphase flow simulator OLGA(TM) with the experimental data. This study contributes to the improvement of the existing slug tracking models and the development of new models for the proper design and safe operation of three-phase flow in pipeline systems.