SPE Production & Operations
Volume 24, Number 1, February 2009, pp. 171-179

SPE-108752-PA

A Study Of Normal Slug Flow In An Offshore Production Facility With a Large Diameter Flowline

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DOI  More information 10.2118/108752-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/108752-PA

Citation

  • Guzmán Vázquez, E. and Fairuzov, Y.V. 2009. A Study of Normal Slug Flow in an Offshore Production Facility With a Large-Diameter Flowline. SPE Prod & Oper  24 (1): 171-179. SPE-108752-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 4.5.2 Pipeline Transient Behavior (Water Hammer, Slug Prediction)
  • 4.9.1 Operating Procedures
  • 4.5.5 Offshore Pipelines

Summary

Normal (hydrodynamic) slug flow in a pipeline/riser system was studied theoretically and experimentally in this paper. Experimental data were obtained for slug flow in which the length of liquid slugs was larger than the riser height. A transient mechanistic model of this phenomenon was also developed. A good agreement between the model predictions and experimental data was achieved. Simulations of slug flow in an offshore production system with a large-diameter pipeline were performed by use of the developed model. The simulation revealed that long hydrodynamic slugs can accelerate in the riser to a velocity five times greater than the average slug velocity in the pipeline. This fact should be accounted for in the development of operating strategies for such production systems.

© 2009. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 13 April 2007
  • Meeting paper published: 27 June 2007
  • Revised manuscript received: 17 June 2008
  • Manuscript approved: 21 July 2008
  • Published online: 2 March 2009
  • Version of record: 26 February 2009