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| Author(s): |
Marcelo Souza de Castro
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2013-06-27 |
| Examining board members: |
Oscar Mauricio Hernandez Rodriguez;
Jorge Luis Baliño;
Antonio Carlos Banwart;
Erick de Moraes Franklin;
Gherhardt Ribatski
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| Advisor: | Oscar Mauricio Hernandez Rodriguez |
| Abstract | |
The stratified oil-water flow pattern is of common occurrence in the petroleum industry, especially in offshore directional wells and pipelines. Previous studies have shown that the phenomenon of flow pattern transition in stratified flow can be related to the interfacial wave structure (problem of hydrodynamic instability). The transition from stratified flow to stratified with mixture at the interface has been studied by several authors and the physics behind the phenomenon has been already explained, basically by the tearing of droplets from the interfacial wave crest. Techniques based on a temporal analysis of the hydrodynamic stability for the proposition of transition criteria are often found in the literature. However, at certain inlet flow conditions, it was observed that the flow pattern changes along the test line. The flow enters the test line as wavy stratified flow and then, several diameters from the pipe inlet, the transition to elongated-bubbles flow occurs. It was also observed that the location where the transition occurs also changes depending on the phases superficial velocities. It seems that this phenomenon occurs due to interfacial tension and contact angle effects. The one-dimensional two-fluid model, linear stability theory (spatial approach) and experimental data of the interfacial wave properties are used to study the flow and a new transition criterion based on the wave celerity is proposed. The stratified-flow spatial transition occurred outside the region delimitated as stable by the linear theory; so nonlinear effects are prominent. The method of characteristics was used as an attempt to predict the point in space at which the transition occurs. The experimental work was done at the experimental facility of the Thermal-fluids Engineering Laboratory; experimental data allowed a new oil-water flow map and interfacial wave properties were acquired. The agreement between data and prediction is encouraging. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/03254-5 - Spatial analisys of a perturbation wave in parallel two-phase flow |
| Grantee: | Marcelo Souza de Castro |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct) |