NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF EROSION OF GAS-PIPELINE ELEMENTS A.A. Ryabov, Kudryavtsev A. Yu., Voronkov O.V., (Sarov Engineering Center, Russia) Haritonov A.N, Maltsev A.I., Melnikov I.V., Kiselev M.N. (Gazprom DobychaNadym) Matt Straw (Norton Straw, UK) STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 1
Introduction The main hydrocarbon reserves of the largest gas fields, currently developing in the north of Western Siberia, are confined to the Cenomanian deposits in weakly-cemented sand reservoirs. High solids production is common for operation from such deposits. Integrity management is a significant challenge faced by operators of hydrocarbon production systems in many north of West Siberia developments. High sand production rates from weak formations can lead to reduced hydrocarbon production due to excessive erosion and wear of production system equipment; this is a major technical and economic issue. STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 2
Typical zones of erosion Choke erosion Tee-junction erosion STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 3
Problem statement The simulations included a production gas as methane, produced water and sand. A parametric study investigated the effect of sand particle size, production flow rate and produced water flow rate. The range of parameters investigated are summarized below: • Particle diameter: 0.01 mm, 0.1 mm, 0.25 mm. • Sand concentration: 0.5, 2, 10, 40 mm 3 /m 3 . • ‘Water -in- gas’ concentration–1…10 mm 3 /m 3 . STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 4
Methodology To solve the problem, the general purpose computer-aided engineering STAR-CCM+ software by CD-adapco was used. STAR-CCM+ software incorporates the models required for numerical simulation: • multiphase flow comprising gas with a sand and/or water • liquid films model • erosion model The Lagrangian model can be used alongside an erosion model to predict how much wall material may be lost due to particles impacting a fluid boundary (e.g. pipe wall). The Oka-correlation, built in the STAR-CCM+ software, was chosen to calculate the erosion coefficient. Coefficients by default are suitable for the sand eroding 0.25% carbon steel. STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 5
Results of numerical simulations Numerical simulations were split up to four stages: • simulation of dry gas-sand flow to identify areas of erosion on the pipeline elements, assess dependences of the erosion rate on flow rates, particle concentration and size • simulation of gas-water drops flow to identify area of liquid film formation and its thickness • direct numerical simulation of sand particle impingement to liquid film to determine influence of liquid film thickness to erosion rate • direct modeling of cavity shape in STAR-CCM+ and structural analysis using Abaqus For greater clarity, a new parameter, rate of wall thinning, was entered into the case. It shows speed of destruction of the pipeline material and is calculated as the ratio of erosion (kg/m 2 ∙s) to steel density – 7800 kg/m 3 . The units used are converted to mm/year as this is more intuitive to the reader STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 6
Results of fluid-dynamic simulations Location of localized erosion can be demonstrated by the case of the choke calculation, when Р =40 atm, Q=800000 m 3 /day, N=40.0 mm 3 /m 3 , d=0.25 mm. Three areas most exposed to erosion were identified: • needle (its damage leads to disturbances of the well operating regime); • chamber wall behind the needle(its damage leads to well depressurization and cause emergency situations); • seat (narrowing in the choke – its damage leads to disturbances of the well operating regime). Needle STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 7
Results of fluid-dynamic simulations Figures below show the relationship dependence of the predicted erosion on the sand loading (concentration), particle size and gas flow rate (m 3 /day). As seen from the graphs, the dependence of the erosion on the sand loading is linear. The impact of the particle velocity and diameter on erosion is determined by exponents k 2 and k 3 in equation of Oka-correlation. Thus, the erosion is highly sensitive to particle velocity, which in-turn is determined by the gas velocity. Dependence of general erosion index on sand concentration Dependence of general erosion index on sand concentration Dependence of general erosion index on gas flow rate STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 8
Results of fluid-dynamic simulations As mentioned previously, the system is flowing a multiphase mixture of gas, sand and produced water. Under certain flowing conditions water may form a film on the inner pipe wall surface, which may serve as a kind of protection from the sand impact. However, we should answer two questions: • How much can the water film slow down the particles? • Does the area of the water film fit in space the erosion area? STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 9
Results of fluid-dynamic simulations To answer the first question, additional calculations were performed: direct numerical simulation of the sand particle collision with the liquid film. As a result we obtained the erosion attenuation coefficient depending on the initial speed of the sand particle and the liquid film thickness. Sand particle in water film STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 10
Results of fluid-dynamic simulations To answer the second question, a series of calculations were carried out to model the water film formation. It was found that in general zone of liquid film formation fits to zone of erosion. So water spray in the pipe can be considered as factor of protection against of erosion. Liquid film formation zones Erosion zones STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 11
Strength Prediction of Pipeline Element Damaged by Erosion For a full integrity assessment it is necessary to assess the residual strength of structural elements exposed to erosive wear. For this to be undertaken it is necessary to understand the geometrical form of the worn-our inner surface. Given that the shape of the inner pipe wall surface has a direct influence on the internal flow pattern, to determine the profile of the eroded pipe we used a so-called coupled formulation in the simulation process where the pipe wall is moved in accordance with the erosion wear rate (thinning velocity) during the solution progress. STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 12
Results of simulation and comparison to field observations STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 13
Results of simulation and comparison to field observations STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 14
Results of simulation and comparison to field observations STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 15
Conclusion: • within this project we investigated the erosion processes in the elements of the pipeline system on the base of STAR- ССМ + software. Localized zones of erosion and erosion rate demonstrates good agreement with the observations of the real object • it is shown that the most effective parameter for erosion control is the flow rate. Also investigated the effect of liquid films on the erosion rate. It has been found that in some cases the presence of the water fraction in the flow leading to the formation of liquid film on the tube wall can significantly reduce the erosion rate. • the new technique was developed to direct numerical simulation of the shape of cavity with the aim of calculating the residual strength of the elements of the pipeline system damaged by erosion STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 16
Thank you for your attention STAR Global Conference 2014, March 17-19, Vienna 17
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