Multiphase Flow Technology

Agenda 29th September 2011

• Introduction to multiphase flow
• Terms & regimes
• Conservation equations
• Stratified flow
• Applications
• Slug flow

30.09.2011
 Multiphase pipe flow – a key
technology for oil and gas

Jan Nossen, IFE

Autumn 2011

What’s multiphase transportation?

• Transport of gas, oil, water, chemicals and
possibly solid particles in the same pipe
• Reduces need for new production platforms
• Gather production from many wells and
send to existing platform or shore
• Subsea separation and pumping/compression
may be required
• More cost efficient
• Often requires chemicals to prevent
corrosion and solids precipitation that can
possibly restrict or stop the flow

1
 Multiphase transportation
challenges
• Capacity problems due to viscous oils, emulsions etc.
• Solids precipitation can restrict or stop the flow
• Liquid accumulation during low flow rates in gas
condensate pipelines
• Large flow transients during production ramp-up
• Slugging and other instabilities can give
problems in the receiving facilities
• Erosion/corrosion

Application of multiphase flow

models
• Tool for system design
• Piping and equipment dimensioning
• Heating and thermal insulation
• Chemical choice and dosage
• Part of system simulator
• Integrated system design
• Subsea solutions
• Operator training
• Operation support – system overview
• Surveillance: Compute non-monitorable
parameters
- Liquid content, leak detection …

2
 Multiphase flow research
• Improved understanding and simulation of
multiphase flow
• Lab experiments
• Modelling of flow phenomena
• Detailed simulations (e.g. LES/DNS)
• Oil fields with high water production
• Fluid characterization, emulsion properties
• Heavy, high viscosity oils and non-Newtonian fluids
(e.g. drilling fluids)
• Liquid accumulation
• Corrosion

Fundamental modelling challenge:

Turbulence models have more unknowns than equations

To close the equation set, “closure laws” based on
correlating data are necessary

3
 Upscaling from lab to field

• 13 parameters determine holdup(s) and

pressure drop in three phase pipe flow
• To develop the closure relations, we need data
• To
13
cover
9
the parameter space we need, say,
5 ~ 10 data points for 5 point resolution in each
parameter
• We have ~ 200 field data points at present

• It is clearly impossible to cover the parameter

space of three phase pipe flow with data

Conclusion: we need models based on

physics to extrapolate beyond lab data

Mechanistic model

Lab Field

4
 Simulators for multiphase
transportation
• One-dimensional models for three-phase gas-oil-
water flow in pipes and pipe networks
• Compute phase fractions, pressure and
temeprature along the pipe vs. time
• Steady state and dynamic models
• 1-D conservation equations for mass, momentum and
energy
• Flow regimes: Stratified, annular, slug, bubble flow
• Empirical knowledge incorporated in
phenomenological closure laws for each flow regime

What base knowledge is

• Math
needed?
• Partial differential equations
• Fluid mechanics
• Basics
• Multiphase flow
• Waves
• Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Computer science
• Programming
• Applied numerical methods
• Thermodynamics/
physical chemistry
• A little statistics

10

5
 Terms & notation

30.09.2011

Multiphase flow terms, notation

Gas Ug
Oil Uo
Water
Uw
Void fraction:   Ag / A
Ag
Oil holdup:  o  Ao / A
A
Ao Water holdup:  w  Aw / A
Aw Total holdup:   o  w

30.09.2011

1
 Multiphase flow terms, notation
y

z G

Name Dimension Legend .

e J/kg Specific internal energy
h J/kg Specific enthalpy
p Pa Pressure
S m Wetted length
r kg/m3 Density
, , g - Gas, liquid bulk, droplet fractions
t Pa Shear stress
yE kg/(sm3) Droplet entrainment rate
yD kg/(sm3) Droplet deposition rate

30.09.2011

Thin film
Real stratified flow
g
go g Continuous gas
o Gas bubbles in oil
w Gas bubbles in water
 oc Continuous oil
go Oil drops in gas
 od Oil drops in water
o  wc Continuous water
gw
w
Water drops in gas
 wd
 od  wd Water drops in oil
Thin liquid film on upper wall
 oc  wc
4

2
 Flow regimes

30.09.2011

Flow regimes
Depend on gas
• phase velocities
• phase quantity oil

• pipeline orientation
• flow system
• gas/liquid
• liquid/liquid

IFE Lab data

30.09.2011

3
 Flow regimes: Near horizontal
Gas/liquid regimes:
• Stratified
• Annular
Slug
• Bubble

Liquid/liquid regimes:
• Stratified (separated)
• Partly separated/dispersed
• Dispersed oil/water flow

Flow regimes: Near vertical

Gas/liquid regimes:
.:.:
.:

• (a-b) bubble flow

.:
.: .: .: .:.:

• (c-d) slug/churn flow .: :

.: ..::

.
• (e) annular flow .: .:.:: :
..
.:.:.:.:
.:

.:.:
.:

Liquid/liquid regimes:
.:
.:

Dispersed

a b c d e

4
 Transition criteria
Liquid velocity
Bubble

Slug

Large Wave
Stratified

Gas velocity

30.09.2011

Flow regime transitions

• The most important flow regime transition in pipelines
is from stratified flow to slug flow
• Two conditions must be fulfilled for slug flow to exist:
• Stratified flow must be unstable (Kelvin-Helmholtz instability)
• Slugs that are formed must be able to grow (Minimum slip)
• The Kelvin-Helmholtz criterion tells that the stratified
flow region gets smaller with increasing pressure
• Experimental data show that the slug flow region also
gets smaller with increasing pressure
• For high pressure we get a region of large wave flow
in between stratified and slug

5
 In between
USL

slugs are stable

neither is stable

stratified flow is stable

USG

30.09.2011

6
 Conservation equations
in multiphase pipe flow

Jan Nossen, IFE

Autumn 2011

Introduction
• Basic conservation equations: Mass, momentum, energy
• The conservation equations are formally similar for all
flow regimes (flow patterns)
• The differences between the flow regimes manifest
themselves in different terms (closure relations) for
• Wall and interfacial friction factors
• Dispersion of other phases as droplets and bubbles
• Momentum transfer between phases due to mass exchange
• Thermodynamics enter conservation equations thru
• Boundary conditions
• Source terms
• Mass transfer

1
 Nomenclature
Name Dimension Legend .
A m2 Pipe cross sectional area
e J/kg Specific internal energy
G kg/(m2s2) Gravity term
h J/kg Specific enthalpy
p Pa Pressure
S m Wetted length
U m/s Velocity
Y m Vertical coordinate (wrt. gravity)
z m Axial coordinate
kg/m3 Density
- Gas, liquid bulk, droplet fractions
Pa Shear stress
E kg/(sm3) Droplet entrainment rate
D kg/(sm3) Droplet deposition rate

Conservation equations for 3-phase

stratified flow
• 3 momentum equations
• Gas layer with oil and water droplets
• Oil layer with gas bubbles and water droplets
• Water layer with gas bubbles and oil droplets
• 9 mass equations
• 3 continuous phases
• 6 dispersed phases
• 9 energy equations
• Alternatively, 1 mixture energy equation

2
 Mass equations for simplified case
No bubbles/droplets in liquid
1
( ) A Ug 0
• Gas: t
g
A z
g
Droplet
entrainment

1
• Oil Bulk: t
( o o )
A z
A o o Uo Eo Do

1 Droplet
• Oil Droplets: ( h h ) A h Ud
h Eo Do deposition
t A z

• Similarly for the water film and droplets

Momentum equations

1 p g Sg go S go
( g Ug ) A g U g2 Gg
t A z z A A

1 2 p S
o o go go S S
ow ow
o oU o A o oU o o Go
t A z z A A A
1 2 p S
w w S
ow ow
w wU w A w wU w w Gw
t A z z A A

3
 Holdup equation for fully developed
steady stratified flow
• The momentum equations for fully developed steady
stratified two-phase flow can be reduced to
p G SG I SI
0 GG
z A A
p LSL I SI
0 (1 ) GL
z A A
• By eliminating the pressure gradient, one nonlinear
algebraic equation is obtained for the gas fraction:

SG
G SI
I SL
L SI
I
(1 ) GG GL 0
A A A A

4
 Stratified flow models

Jan Nossen, IFE

Autumn 2011

Introduction
• The different flow require different terms (closure
relations) in momentum equations for
• Wall and interfacial friction factors
• Dispersion of phases as drops and bubbles
• Momentum transfer between phases due to phase change
• The last point is closely connected with
thermodynamics and will not be treated here

30.09.2011

1
Pure stratified flow – volume fractions
Void fraction:   Ag / A
Oil holdup:  o  Ao / A
Ag Water holdup:  w  Aw / A
Total holdup:   o  w
Ao
Aw
Gas

Oil
Water

Shear stresses in pipe flow

• Single phase flow:
1
  U 2
8
p S 1 S 1 1
  U 2  U 2
z A 2 4A 2 D

• Laminar flow: Hagen-Poiseuille   64 / Re Re  UD / 

• Turbulent flow: Håland
1  6.9   1.11 
(Explicit approximation to  1.8 log10     
Colebrook-White formula)   Re  3.7 D  

2
 Shear stresses in channel flow
• Pressure drop in channel flow calculated using
hydraulic diameter concept
• Hydraulic diameter = Diameter of ”equivalent”
circular pipe
• Good approximation in most cases
• Not for geometries with narrow corners (i.e. triangle)
• Pressure drop:
p 1 1
  U 2
z 2 DH
4A UDH 
DH     (Re,  / DH ) Re 
S 

Hydraulic diameters: Traditional method

• The gas is regarded as flowing in a closed channel
• The liquid is regarded as flowing in an open channel
• For three-phase gas-oil-water, the choices are less
obvious and demonstrate limitations of the concept

DHg
Gas

DHo Liquid

3
 Gas wall friction factor
• Simplest approach: Hydraulic diameter concept with
closed channel
• Gas velocity profile is generally asymmetrical in wavy
flow, leading to increase of shear stresses
• Friction factor can be corrected for waves

Liquid wall friction factor

• Smooth stratified flow (no waves): Hydraulic
diameter approach gives good results
• Wavy stratified flow: Hydraulic diameter approach
gives poor results because velocity profile is
modified by waves (Espedal 1998)
• Several correlations proposed in literature
• Biberg (2007) proposed a model computing friction
factors by matching turbulent velocity profiles in both
phases at interface

4
 Interfacial friction factor
• Many different correlations in literature
• Most based on low pressure air/water experiments
• Poor extrapolation properties to high pressure
• The model of Biberg (2007) gives the interfacial
shear stress from the continuity of gas and liquid
velocities at the interface

Thin film
Real stratified flow
g Continuous gas g
o o
Gas bubbles in oil
Gas bubbles in water w
Continuous oil  oc
Oil drops in gas o
Oil drops in water  od
o Continuous water  wc
Water drops in gas w
w  wd Water drops in oil  wd
 od
 oc  wc
10

5
 Dispersions in stratified flow
• drop transport (entrainment) in the gas
• Gas bubbles in the liquid layer
• Oil- water dispersions

11

drop transport in gas

• At high gas flow rates, drops are torn off the interface
and flow along with the gas (entrainment)
• Equilibrium is achieved between drop entrainment
from the liquid and deposition of drops to the liquid
• More than 50% of the volume flow of liquid can be in
the form of drops
• There is some correlation between the drop
entrainment and the Weber number

12

6
 Gas bubbles in the liquid
• Gas is entrained as bubbles into a liquid layer at the
gas-liquid interface
• Known from hydraulic engineering (rivers, dams)
• Occurs as result of turbulence and breaking waves
• Equilibrium gas fraction determined by
available kinetic energy
• Significant gas entrainment occurs above a geometry
dependent critical Froude number

13

Oil-water dispersions
• Oil can be dispersed into water as drops,
or water into oil
• Dispersions can be stabilized by shear or chemicals
(surfactants)
• A dispersion of small drops stabilized by surfactants
is called an emulsion
• Important for pressure drop
• Dispersed drops increase pressure drop in most cases
because drops behave like solid particles
• In some cases dispersed drops can decrease pressure drop
because drops are deformed by shear stress
• Phase inversion (Transition between water drops in oil and oil
drops in water) can give large pressure drop

7
 Oil-water dispersions
Two-phase oil-water flow
Umix = 1.75 m/s, From Utvik et al (1999)
• Very different flow regime 1.8

and pressure drop as 1.6

Model oil - water

Crude oil - water

DW
function of water fraction 1.4
DW DW
DO DO
DW

Relative pressure gradient [-]

DO DW DW
(water cut) for different oils 1.2
DO DW
DW DW
DO DO
1.0 ST ST ST
ST ST
ST ST
ST ST

•
0.8
Surface chemistry affects
0.6
drop breakup and
0.4
coalescence – interfaces 0.2
can be rigid or flexible 0.0
0% 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 %
Watercut [%]

ST = stratified, DO = Dispersed oil continuous,

DW = Dispersed water continuous

9/30/2011

Emulsion viscosity
• In oil-water dispersions the apparent viscosity increases
dramatically towards phase inversion
• Einstein developed formula for the apparent viscosity for a
suspension of hard spheres in liquid:
 mixture 5
 1.0    = drop concentration
 pure 2
• Later workers extended Einstein’s formula to more realistic
systems, notably Pal and Rhodes (1999)


WC
inv

8
 Summary
• Stratified models need to include models for:
• Flow geometry
• Wall and interfacial friction factors
• drops in gas phase
• Gas bubbles in liquid layer
• Oil drops in water and water drops in oil
• Hydraulic diameters are often used for modelling
friction factors but fails for wavy flow
• Friction factors can be modelled more accurately
from detailed models of velocity profiles
• Drops and bubbles influenced by surface chemistry

17

9
 Multiphase flow – applications

Jan Nossen, IFE

Autumn 2011

30.09.2011

Acknowledgments
• Terje Sira (IFE)
• Zheng Gang Xu (SPT Group)
• Magnus Nordsveen (Statoil)
• SINTEF Petroleum
• IFE

30.09.2011

1
 Multiphase Flow Main Challenges
• Pressure loss
• Liquid management
• Pipeline diameter selection
• Liquid inventory control
• Normal operation
• Water accumulation
• Rate changes, shut-down and Restart
• Pigging
• Sizing of process equipment, e.g. separators/slug catchers
• Prediction and control of slugging

Stratified flow in horizontal gas condensate pipe

p1 Forces on Forces on Forces on
gas condensate water p2

Ug

Uh
Uw

• A small stream of condensate on top of a small stream of water

• The pressure gradient drives the gas which drives the condensate
which drives the water
• Typical values: Gas velocity Ug = 3 m/s, liquid velocity Ul = 1 m/s
Liquid holdup h = 0.01
Superficial velocities:
Usg = 3 m/s Usl = hUl = 1 cm/s
• Liquid transport modified by droplets in gas and water droplets in
condensate/condensate droplets in water

2
 Steady state pressure drop and holdup

Pressure drop
Liquid inventory
Pressure drop

Gravity dominated flow

Friction dominated flow

Liquid inventory
1-phase pressure drop Production rate

• Below a certain production rate, pressure gradient

and holdup start building up in the uphill sections

30/09/2011

Pipe diameter selection

• Too small diameter:
• Large pressure drop due to friction at high production rates
• Too large diameter:
• Too low velocity
• High holdup and flow instabilities at low production rates
• Large liquid surges during production start-up or ramp-up
• Possibly even severe slugging
• More expensive pipelines
• In 1-phase flow you can just make the pipe big enough
• In multiphase flow you have to balance capacity needs
with need to avoid liquid accumulation and instabilities

30.09.2011

3
 Liquid inventory
Liquid surge during ramp-up

Liquid flowing from pipeline into slug catcher

when increasing rate from Q1 to Q2

Q1 Q2 Production rate

30.09.2011

Potential problems in multiphase flow

• WATER

Liquid accumulation and water separation in low points

• Increased liquid PIPELINE WATER HOLDUP PROFILE

Elevation (m)
accumulation 20 1600
and pressure drop
Water Holdup (%)

Elevation

•
15 1200
Large water slugs
disturb process 10
Water
800

• Corrosion 5
Holdup
400

0 0
0 20000 40000 60000 80000

Pipeline Distance

4
Potential problems in multiphase flow
• SHUT-IN/RESTART and RATE CHANGES
• Liquid redistributes due to gravity during shut-in
• On startup, liquid in dips can exit the pipeline as large slugs
as flow is ramped up

A-Liquid Distribution After Shutdown

shutdown

gas
liquid
Flowrate

B-Gas and Liquid Outlet Flow

Troll gas: Onshore slug-catcher

5
Potential problems in multiphase flow
• PIGGING
• Push a “pig” device through the pipe to
• Push out excess liquid and/or wax on the pipe wall
• Inspect the pipe for corrosion and wax using an instrumented pig
• Pigging the line can create a large liquid slug
ahead of the pig
• The pigging operation can be optimized using simulations

A: Slug build-up

gas
B. front arrival liquid
A B C

Flowrate
D

C. slug surface

D. Pig arrival
Tim e

Potential problems in multiphase flow

A. Slug formation C. Gas penetration

• SEVERE SLUGGING
• A: Low spots fills with liquid and
flow is blocked
• B: Pressure builds up behind the
blockage B.Slug production D. Gas blow-down
• C&D: When pressure becomes
high enough, gas blows liquid
out of the low spot as a slug

– Severe slugs can cause large pressure swings

and liquid surges out of pipeline.
– Severe slugging requires a dynamic model
to predict and control

6
 Potential problems in multiphase flow
• LONG SLUGS
• In hydrodynamic slug flow we
35%
have a random distribution of
30%
slug lengths
25%

Population Density
Some slugs can be very long, 20%
Olga Data
Test Data
creating problems (filling slug 15%
catcher)
10%

• Long slugs difficult to predict 5%

0%

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120
Slug Duration (s)

Slug duration distribution

From Xu et al (1997)

One-dimensional multiphase
pipe flow simulators
• One dimensional models for
multiphase flow of gas, oil and water in
wells, pipelines and networks
• Steady state and dynamic models
• 1-D conservation equations for mass,
momentum and energy
• Experimental experience used in
developing closure relations
• Wall and interfacial friction factors
• Transport of drops and bubbles
• Testing against field data important for
validation

7
 Description of a case to be
simulated
Pipe geometry Fluid properties Boundary
conditions
Pipe elevation profile Mass fractions Boundary conditions
Pipe inner diameter Densities at pipe ends (Flow,
Internal wall Viscosities pressure,
roughness Surface and interfacial temperature)
Wall thickness tensions External temperature
Wall material Heat conductivities Thermal properties of
properties Specific enthalpies surroundings (water,
Specific heat air, soil)
capacities

15

CFD models for multiphase flow

• Standard CFD commercial codes are widely used for
simulating laminar and turbulent single phase flow
• Multiphase flow give us several new challenges
• Where is the interface?
• Large scale interfaces (stratified flow), small scale interfaces
(bubbly flow) or both at the same time
• Continuous phases typically described by Euler methods
(i.e. Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations)
• Dispersed phases typically described by either Lagrange
methods (tracking each bubble/drop/particle) or Euler methods
• More difficult when a phase is both continuous and dispersed

30/09/2011

8
 Eulerian CFD methods for multiphase flow
• Diffuse interface methods
• Volume of Fluid (VOF) method
• Computes volume fraction of each phase in each control volume
• Level Set method
• Interface given as zero level of an auxiliary function
• Phase Field method
• Extra conservation equation for «phase field» across interface
• Sharp interface methods
• Front tracking – explicit interface tracking

30/09/2011

1D versus CFD multiphase flow models

1D models CFD models

• Low resolution • High resolution
• Many closure relations • Fewer closure relations
• Friction factors • Depending on resolution
• Entrainment/deposition • Scales not resolved must
• Drop/bubble properties be modelled
• Fast • Slow or VERY slow
• Only tool today for long • Impractical for pipelines
pipelines • Can be good for
equipment

30/09/2011

9
 Why are CFD models impractical for pipelines?

• Long high pressure gas condensate pipeline

• 1m = 102 cm diameter, 100 km = 107 cm long
• Stratified wavy flow
• Bulk flow varies over O(1 cm) length
• 1 cm grid resolution => N ~ 102102107 = 1011 grid cells
• Bubbles, drops and other features will have sub-grid
scale and need to be modelled
• Huge computing times – but uncertain accuracy

30/09/2011

10
 Fundamentals of slug flow

Jan Nossen, IFE

Autumn 2011

What is slug flow?

• Long bubbles (Taylor bubbles) alternate with more or
less aerated liquid plugs, called slugs

• The slug front (bubble tail) acts like a hydraulic jump

• Gas bubbles are entrained into the slug front and
transported backward relative to the front
• The liquid below the bubble can also contain bubbles

1
 What is slug flow (II)
• Mechanisms in slug flow
• From Hale et al. (2000)

Direction of slug body and film.

Gas released
Gas entrained
from slug body.
by slug body.
Gas released
from film.

Aerated liquid "shed"

Liquid film "scooped up"
from faster moving slug.
by faster moving slug body.

What is slug flow (III)

• Behind the slug front there is normally a mixing zone
with strong turbulence
• Increased wall shear stress (friction)
• Gas entrainment
• The gas is nearly homogeneously distributed
in the mixing zone
• The gas is rising towards the
top of the pipe behind the
mixing zone at low velocities

2
 Severe slugging (terrain slugging)
• Occurs in dip geometry at low
flow velocity
• Liquid slows down and blocks
gas from passing the bend
• Pressure builds up and starts
pushing out liquid
• Long bubble expands and blows
rapidly out on top
• Cycle repeats
• Gives large pressure and flow
oscillations, disturbing process
• Can be controlled by choking
(valve with small opening) Drawing: ABB

30.09.2011

Horizontal and vertical slug flow

• Long, near horizontal pipes:
• Relatively long slugs (> 30 diameters)
• Vertical pipes:
• Shorter slugs (typically < 20 diameters)
• Falling liquid around the Taylor bubble
• In vertical flow Taylor bubbles are only stable for
pipes of diameter less than about 10 cm
• In larger diameter pipes we normally get chaotic flow
(churn flow) instead of slug flow
• Slugs developed in a long pipe can survive a short
riser, but will die out in a long, large diameter riser

3
 Flow regime transitions
• The most important flow regime transition in pipelines
is from stratified flow to slug flow
• Two conditions must be fulfilled for slug flow to exist:
• Stratified flow must be unstable (Kelvin-Helmholtz instability)
• Slugs that are formed must be able to grow (Minimum slip)
• The Kelvin-Helmholtz criterion tells that the stratified
flow region gets smaller with increasing pressure
• Experimental data show that the slug flow region also
gets smaller with increasing pressure
• For high pressure we get a region of large wave flow
in between stratified and slug

In between
USL

slugs are stable

neither is stable

stratified flow is stable

USG

30.09.2011

4
 Slug formation
• Complex phenomenon, not fully
understood
• Studies at Imperial College,
Hale et al. (2001)
• ”Slug precursor” formed on top
of long wave formed after
previous slug
• Most ”slug precursors” collapse,
while a few survive and grow
into long slugs
• Other mechanisms as well

Slug growth
• Most new, short slugs collapse because there isn’t
enough liquid ahead of them to grow on
• Liquid left by a collapsed slug is picked up by the
next one
• Slug frequency gradually decaying along the pipe
• Terrain effects from ups and downs important in long
pipelines

5
 History of slug flow modelling
• Theoretical modelling since the 1970s
• Traditional concept: Unit Cell Model
• Pipe discretized into control volumes
• Fully developed flow assumed in each control volume
• Development of each individual slug ignored
• The unit cell model cannot predict slug length
• More modern approach: Slug tracking, where slugs
are tracked from they are formed until they vanish
• Main challenge: Model slug formation and growth

Unit cell model for slug flow

• Most common concept for slug flow modelling
• Infinite train of identical slug and Taylor bubbles
• Fully developed dispersed bubble flow assumed in slug
• Sometimes extended to include increased friction behind the slug front
• Fully developed stratified/annular flow assumed
in Taylor bubble zone
• Sometimes extended to include developing flow (slug tail profile)

• Has also been extended to gas-oil-water 3-phase flow

6
 Unit cell model: Assumptions
• The flow is assumed steady and periodical in a frame of
reference moving with the pattern velocity U B
• In other words the flow is assumed locally fully
developed
• The slug front and the bubble nose are assumed to
have the same velocity U B

UB
UGB
ULB
UGS, ULS

Slug collapse in downward flow

• For low mixture velocities we normally get slug flow
uphill and stratified flow downhill
• The unit cell model assumes local equilibrium
independent of upstream and downstream conditions
• The model will therefore often predict that slugs
vanish immediately when they reach a hilltop
• In reality slugs can often survive for a considerable
distance in a downhill if slug collapse is slow
• Slug tracking or similar techniques are necessary to
study how slugs develop in a hilly terrain pipeline

7
 Unit cell model: Continuity (I)
• Total volume flux (mixture velocity) is U M U SG U SL
• Total mass flow is constant along the pipe
(in a stationary frame of reference)
• If we assume constant densities, the mixture velocity
is also constant along the pipe
• Volume flux in the slug: S U GS (1 S )U LS UM
• Volume flux in the bubble: B U GB (1 B )U LB U M
UB
UGB
ULB
UGS, ULS

Unit cell model: Continuity (II)

• In a frame of reference moving with the fronts,
continuity of each phase across the bubble nose gives

S (U GS U B ) B (U GB U B )
(1 S )(U LS U B ) (1 B )(U LB U B )
UB

UGB
ULB
UGS, ULS

8
 Closure relations for the unit cell
• Bubble nose velocity
• Void fraction (gas volume fraction) in slugs
• Velocity difference between gas and liquid in slugs
• Friction factors in bubble zone and in slug
• Extra pressure drop behind slug front

UB

UGB
ULB
UGS, ULS

The bubble nose velocity

• The bubble nose velocity is approximately linear in
the mixture velocity: U B C0U M U 0
• The distribution coefficient C0 is a function of the
velocity profile in the slug
• C0 ≈ 2 for laminar flow in the slug
• C0 ≈ 1.2 for fully turbulent flow in the slug
• Smooth transition between laminar and turbulent flow
• The drift velocity U0 is a function of inclination angle,
densities, liquid viscosity and pipe diameter

30.09.2011

9
 The gas fraction in slugs
• The gas fraction in the slug depends on
• Velocity distribution, pipe diameter, inclination, densities,
viscosities, surface tension, surface rheology
• The surface rheology and its influence is little known
• Gas fraction in slugs is complex and difficult to model
• Empirical correlations mostly used. Typically S S (U M , )
• Some simple mechanistic models exist
• Predicts gas entrainment at front and the gas distribution in the slug
• Typically poor extrapolation properties

The gas distribution in slugs

• Gas is entrained into the slug at the front
• The gas entrainment can be increased by gas in the
stratified layer below the bubble
• The gas distribution in the slugs is governed by
forces on the bubbles
• An inhomogeneous bubble distribution can give rise
to a distribution slip (gas and liquid are distributed
differently in regions of low and high velocity)
• This affects the average gas fraction in the slug

10
 The gas distribution in slugs (II)
• The gas is strongly skewed towards the top of the
pipe, Nydal (1991)

The flow in the bubble zone

• The momentum equations for fully developed flow in
the bubble zone read

p GB SGB S IB
IB
0 B GGB
z A A
p LB S LB IB S IB
0 (1 B ) GLB
z A A
• By eliminating the pressure gradient, one nonlinear
algebraic equation is obtained for the gas fraction:

SGB
GB IB S IB LB S LB S IB
IB
(1 B ) GGB B GLB 0
A A A A

11
 The flow in the bubble zone (II)
• To solve the holdup equation, the velocities UGS and
ULS have to be computed for a given B
• The continuity equations differ from pure stratified flow
• For stratified flow, U G U SG / ; U L U SL /(1 )
• For the stratified flow in the bubble region,
S
U GB U B (U GS U B )
B

1 S
U LB U B (U LS U B )
1 B

Three-phas gas-oil-water slug flow

• Low velocities: Oil and water separated (stratified)
• High velocities: Oil and water dispersed (mixed)
• Moderate velocities: Oil and water mixed in slug and
separated in bubble zone (because ULS > ULB)
• Mixing of oil and water can increase frictional
pressure drop (increased mixture viscosity)

12
 Summary
• Qualitative description of slug flow
• Horizontal and vertical slug flow
• Transition from stratified to slug flow
• Slug formation, growth and collapse
• The unit cell model for gas-liquid slug flow
• Gas-oil-water slug flow – effect of mixing

13