Study of two-phase flow in moving risers for offshore petroleum production in deep waters / Estudo do escoamento bifasico em risers em movimento na produção maritima de petroleo em aguas profundas

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2006

RESUMO

The two-phase vertical flow is of utmost importance for petroleum production, since petroleum reservoirs produce oil and gas simultaneously, which must flow up to the undersea surface through wells, and from these to the production platform through vertical pipes (risers) in the sea. Throughout the flow, the mixture of oil and gas may develop several flow patterns. The flow patterns identified in the vertical flow are bubbles, slugs, churn and annular, and these physical configurations present specific characteristics that demand distinct modeling and, presenting particular relations of head loss as function of the flow rate. The correct characterization of the flow patterns, under given operational conditions, is fundamental to the modeling of the dynamics of the flow and to determine the relation between head loss and flow rate. In the literature, studies on the establishment of the flow patterns had been carried with water and air, and were restricted to the case of static pipes, while production risers are in constant movement due to the action of waves, sea currents and the displacement of the production platform. Therefore, the application of these static maps for the conditions of production in deep waters is questionable. The present work is important for the production of oil and gas in deep waters, because it takes into account the oscillatory movement of long and slender vertical pipelines. In these pipes, the forces resulting from of the movements of the sea and the production platform generate an alternated transversal movement on the pipeline. An experimental apparatus built in the laboratory scale to study this effect, with a flexible duct of 8,0 m of length and 25,4 mm of diameter, attached to a system of oscillation and connected to an injection nozzle of water and air to study the patterns of two-phase vertical upward flow in moving pipes

ASSUNTO(S)

flow patterns petroleo em terras submersas two-phase vertical flow offshore petroleum production risers escoamento bifasico petróleo head loss deepwater operation indústria petrolífera poços de petroleo

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

Documentos Relacionados