| Popis: |
Corrosion is a significant issue affecting oil-water transportation pipelines and causing failures. It occurs when the water present in the produced fluids (a mixture of gas and liquid hydrocarbons) comes into contact and reacts with the pipe surface. Preventing direct contact between water and steel surface is key in mitigating corrosion. This can be achieved by ensuring that water is dispersed as droplets in the oil flow. This situation, called dispersed water-in-oil flow, is attained when the specific operating conditions are met. Being able to predict when dispersed water-in-oil flow occurs holds consequently a significant importance in any asset integrity plan. Liquid flow rates and water cut play obviously a crucial role but, more specifically, the prediction of water droplet size and distribution is essential in determining when dispersed water-in-oil flow is stable. This present study focuses on experimental measurements of maximum droplet size and droplet size distribution in water-in-oil dispersion for a wide range of flow conditions. The experimental data are compared with the current prediction models and the effects of turbulent level and water cut on maximum droplet size and droplet size distribution is also studied. Gaps in the current understanding are identified and improvements of the predictions models are then proposed. |
