Discover a Career

Modeling Multiphase Flow in Pipes

James P. Brill, University of Tulsa

With this issue, TWA inaugurates the Discover a Career section, in which an experienced industry professional gives a broad picture of an area of his or her expertise, its relevance to the current and future work of the industry, its challenges, the professional opportunities it offers, and the expectations one might have from a career in this area. In this article, James P. Brill, professor emeritus and research professor of petroleum engineering, University of Tulsa, discusses modeling multiphase flow in pipes.

ultiphase ow occurs in almost all producing oil and gas wells and surface pipes that transport produced uids. The signicantly different densities and viscosities of these uids make multiphase ow much more complicated than the single-phase ow covered in an undergraduate uid-mechanics course. Predicting multiphase-ow behavior in an oil and gas production system is further complicated by complex heat transfer that occurs as uids ow through the piping system and the mass transfer that takes place among hydrocarbon uids as pressure and temperature change. These phenomena are governed by conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, coupled with fundamental thermodynamics and heat transfer. Multiphase ow is not unique to the petroleum industry, and is very important in the use of geothermal and nuclear energy for electrical power generation; transportation of coal, grain, and other solids as slurries; development of petrochemicals; and in many other industries. What makes multiphase ow unique in the petroleum industry are the complexity of uids encountered, the larger diameters and longer lengths of the pipes, and often the hostile environments. Production of oil and gas became much more complicated with discoveries offshore, initially in shallow

water depths and now in ultradeep water and in harsh arctic climates. Capital costs in these regions are very high, and production systems must be designed with greater accuracy than is possible with early empirical correlations. Production systems today are not only more complicated, but often involve comingling of dissimilar uids from several wells, zones, and elds. The higher pressures and lower temperatures encountered can result in serious ow-assurance issues such as pipe erosion and corrosion, and total or partial plugging of piping systems from parafn deposition on pipe walls and the formation of hydrate plugs. Many chemicals have been invented to prevent or reduce the occurrence of ow-assurance problems. The effectiveness of injecting these chemicals into the ow stream often depends on the ow pattern in the pipe. Petroleum engineering undergraduates are taught the elementary aspects of multiphase ow in pipes. This includes empirical correlations for predicting ow patterns, liquid holdup, and pressure drop. With this knowledge, they can use commercially available nodalanalysis software to design simple production systems. Professionals from other engineering disciplines can readily learn this technology by attending industry short courses on physical properties and mass transfer

for hydrocarbon uids, multiphase ow in pipes, and nodal-analysis concepts.

Intense Modeling Efforts

The past 3 decades have seen intense modeling efforts to improve our ability to predict multiphase-ow behavior with greater accuracy. So, what is so magical about modeling and how does this differ from empirical correlations? The empirical approach typically involves owing uids at carefully measured ow rates through a pipe, observing the ow pattern, and measuring liquid holdup and pressure drop. Different diameters, pipe inclinations, and uids can be used, but all tests are at steady-state conditions (constant gas- and liquidow rates). Using the measured data, empirical correlations are developed for predicting ow patterns, liquid holdup, and friction factor, and a pressuregradient equation is developed that uses these empirical correlations. A computer program can then be written that numerically integrates the pressure-gradient equation along a pipe to predict the pressure drop. The modeling approach is much more sophisticated. In addition to the measurements made in the empirical approach, one must measure variables such as liquid-lm thickness and entrainment fraction for annular ow, lm thickness around a Taylor bubble in slug ow, and lm thickness and

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curvature in stratied ow. Empirical correlations must then be developed to predict these phenomena (often called closure relationships). These relationships are then used in more complicated pressure-gradient equations that capture the ow behavior much better than in the empirical approach. A vital key to the modeling approach is a mechanistic model for predicting ow pattern. Past attempts in the modeling approach used different conservation equations for predicting ow pattern and pressure gradient. The latest attempts to develop multiphaseow models have recognized that the same conservation equations must be used for predicting both ow pattern and pressure gradient. Although some of the better empirical correlations have survived the test of time, they all suffer from signicant errors in some ranges of input variables and cannot be improved because of their simplistic nature. The mechanistic models are more accurate, more sophisticated, and more difcult to understand. An example of the power of mechanistic models has emerged with current research on multiphase ow involving heavy (viscous) oils. Early empirical correlations fail to predict pressure drop for heavy oils accurately. Flow patterns for heavy oils have different transition boundaries than conventional oils. Some of the closure relationships for lighter oils fail to predict these relationships with acceptable accuracy for heavy oils. However, current heavy-oil multiphase-ow research will soon result in an accurate mechanistic model. Identifying limitations like this in existing models and then being involved in successful research to improve predictions is exhilarating, knowing that your efforts will be used by others as they design and operate complex production systems. Successful operation of production systems also requires the ability to predict ow behavior when ow rates change in pipes. This occurs frequently when adding production from new wells and elds into a pipeline, or reducing production because of ow-

assurance problems, maintenance issues, hurricanes, or other factors. Simulating these time-dependent behaviors requires a sophisticated commercial multiphase-ow simulator like OLGA that is based on conservation equations that retain time-dependent terms. OLGA also involves ow-pattern predictions and requires closure relationships similar to steady-state ow.

Becoming an Expert
Becoming a multiphase-ow expert normally starts with an engineer pursuing a graduate degree at a university with a well-established multiphase-ow research program. A strong academic program that complements excellent experimental opportunities is vital. Visually observing multiphase ow is incredibly exciting, especially when experimental opportunities exist to use modern instrumentation and data-acquisition techniques, and apply current modeling methodology to show how complex physical phenomena follow fundamental conservation principles.

Engineers working on multiphasef low-design and -f low-assurance problems often find themselves assigned to an elite group with broad technical backgrounds and experience. Problems being worked on are usually of critical importance to the successful development of assets. Opportunities exist to interface with similar groups from partner companies. Engineers frequently find themselves representing their companies in collaborative ventures such as research consortia and joint industrial projects. This combination of working on challenging production problems, interfacing with industry experts, and constantly expanding technical expertise makes becoming a multiphase-f low expert an exhilarating experience. The petroleum industry constantly faces challenging f low-assurance problems as it pursues assets in more difficult producing environments. This alone guarantees an exciting future for all engineers with an interest in multiphase f low in pipes. TWA

James P. Brill is professor emeritus and research professor of petroleum engineering, University of Tulsa, and has been a member of the schools petroleum engineering faculty since 1966. He created the uid-ow projects and parafn-deposition projects research consortia that have resulted in more than 100 publications on multiphase ow, and he is coauthor of the SPE monograph Multiphase Flow in Wells. Brill has received the SPE Production Engineering, Distinguished Achievement for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, and John Franklin Carll awards, as well as the DeGolyer Service Medal. He has been named a JPT Legend of Production and Operations and an SPE Honorary Member. In addition, Brill is a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering.

Vol. 6 // No. 2 // 2010

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