Numerical predictions of sand erosion in a choke valve
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15282/jmes.12.4.2018.01.0347Keywords:
Sand erosion, choke valve, CFD simulations, discrete phase model, turbulent flowAbstract
Two-phase turbulent flow of crude oil and sand in a choke valve is analysed in the present article using 3D computational fluid dynamics simulations. The discrete phase mathematical model is used to simulate the sand flow and its interaction with the oil flow in the system. Parametric study is done to identify the governing parameters to minimize the sand erosion in the system. The valve geometry and dimensions are taken from an industrial oil production project. The parameter considered in the present study are the percentage valve opening, flow rate of the sand and the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet pipes. The simulation results are presented to show the erosion rate variation with the valve opening, sand flow rate and the pressure difference. It is found that the erosion rate is high for small valve opening as well as large valve opening. Minimum erosion rate is found when the valve opening is between 20-30% for all the cases with various pressure differences. Locations of maximum erosion rate are predicted in the simulations.
References
Suriani MJ, Nik WBW, Mansor F, Jarkoni MNK, Maizurah CW, Izwani I. Corrosion behavior and resistance parameters of silicon carbide nanocomposite coating on different metals. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences. 2018; 12: 3288-3301.
Abu Bakar A, Mohd Ali MKF, Md Noor N, Yahaya N, Ismail M, Abdullah A. Bio-corrosion of carbon steel by sulfate reducing bacteria consortium in oil and gas pipelines. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences. 2017; 11: 2592-2600.
Meng HC, Ludema KC. Wear models and predictive equations: Their form and content. Wear. 1995; 181–183: 443–457.
Okonkwo P, Mohamed AMA. Erosion-Corrosion in oil and gas industry: A review. International Journal of Metallurgical & Materials Science and Engineering. 2014; 4: 7-28.
Parsi M, Najmi K, Najafifard F, Hassani S, McLaury BS, Shirazi SA. A comprehensive review of solid particle erosion modeling for oil and gas wells and pipelines applications. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering. 2014; 21: 850-873.
Wang J, Shirazi SA. A CFD based correlation for erosion factor for long-radius elbows and bends. J Energy Resour Technol. 2003; 125: 26–34.
Mazumder QH, Siamack AS, Brenton SM. Prediction of solid particle erosive wear of elbows in multiphase annular flow-model development and experimental validations. J Energy Resour Technol. 2008; 130:023001-02300-10.
Elsaadawy E, Papini M, Al-Sherik AM. Solid particle erosion in a partially closed ball control valve. Saudi Aramco Journal of Technology. 2013; 70-77.
Forder A, Thew M, Harrison D. A numerical investigation of solid particle erosion experienced within oilfield control valves. Wear. 1998; 216: 184-193.
Wallace MS, Dempster WM, Scanlon T, Peters J, McCulloch S. Prediction of impact erosion in valve geometries. Wear. 2004; 256: 927-936.
Paggiaro R, Friedemann JD, Gharaibah E, Zhang Y. Prediction of sand erosion in choke valves - CFD model development and validation against experiments. Offshore Technology Conference, number OTC-24271-MS. 2013.
Rodi W. Turbulence models and their application in hydraulics. Delft International Institute for Hydraulic Research. 1980.
Shih TH, Liou WW, Shabbir A, Yang Z, Zhu J. A new k-ε eddy-viscosity model for high Reynolds number turbulent flows - model development and validation. Computers Fluids. 1995; 24: 227-238.
Menter FR. Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications. AIAA Journal. 1994; 32: 1598-1605.
ANSYS Inc. ANSYS FLUENT User’s Guide. Southpointe, 275 Technology Derive, Canonsburg, PA 15317. 2011.
Morsi SA, Alexander AJ. An investigation of particle trajectories in two-phase flow systems. J. Fluid Mech. 1972; 55: 193-208.
Edwards JK. Development, validation, and application of a three dimension, CFD-based erosion prediction procedure. PhD Thesis, the University of Tulsa, Tulsa. 2000.
ANSYS, Inc. Modeling and Meshing guide, Southpointe, 275 Technology Derive, Canonsburg, PA 15317. 2009.
Moshfeghian M. Effect of chemical additive on crude oil pipeline pressure drop, http://www.petroskills.com/blog, June 2015.
Chala GT, Sulaiman SA, Japper-Jaafar A, Wan Abdullah WAK. Study on influence of flow rates on voids in waxy crude oil subjected to dynamic and static cooling. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences. 2015; 9: 1587-1594.
Patankar SV. Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow. McGraw-Hill, New York. 1980.
Cengel YA, Cimbala JM. Fluid mechanics: fundamentals and applications, McGraw-Hill. 2006.
Mazumder QH. S-bend erosion in particulated multiphase flow with air and sand. The Journal of Computational Multiphase Flows. 2016; 8: 157–166.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
