Modeling and simulation of severe slugging with mass transfer effects

A mathematical model and numerical simulations are presented to investigate the dynamics of gas, oil and water flow in a pipeline-riser system. The pipeline is modeled as a lumped parameter system and considers two switchable states: one in which the gas is able to penetrate into the riser and another in which there is a liquid accumulation front, preventing the gas from penetrating the riser. The riser model considers a distributed parameter system, in which movable nodes are used to evaluate local conditions along the subsystem. Mass transfer effects are modeled by using a black oil approximation. The model predicts the liquid penetration length in the pipeline and the liquid level in the riser, so it is possible to determine which type of severe slugging occurs in the system. The method of characteristics is used to simplify the differentiation of the resulting hyperbolic system of equations. The equations are discretized and integrated using an implicit method with a predictor-corrector scheme for the treatment of the nonlinearities. Simulations corresponding to severe slugging conditions are presented and compared to results obtained with OLGA computer code, showing a very good agreement. A description of the types of severe slugging for the three-phase flow of gas, oil and water in a pipeline-riser system with mass transfer effects are presented, as well as a stability map. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved