Flow assurance

Hydrate-Induced Vibration in an Offshore Pipeline

A computational fluid dynamics model is proposed to analyze the effect of hydrate flow in pipelines using multiphase-flow-modeling techniques. The results will identify the cause of pipeline failure, regions of maximum stress in the pipeline, and plastic deformation of the pipeline.

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Source: SPE 187378

Introduction

The objective of this study is the numerical simulation of hydrate-flow-induced vibration and stress analysis of an M-shaped jumper of a subsea oil and gas pipeline. These objective is divided into the following tasks:

  • Developing a steady-state and transient model of hydrate flow using multiphase-modeling techniques to capture the realistic phenomena and validating the simulation results with experimental results available in the literature

  • Conducting sensitivity analysis of flow-condition parameters, such as hydrate volume fraction and flow velocity, in order to minimize flow-assurance challenges

  • Conducting stress analysis of the pipeline using a fluid/structure interaction static structural model

The CFD simulation is coupled with a finite-element-analysis (FEA) -based program, and sensitivity analysis is performed using different pipeline construction materials.

CFD-Modeling Methodology

In this study, a straight pipeline was used first for validation. Later, an M-shaped jumper is simulated as an offshore pipeline. The computational grid of the M-shaped jumper consisted of 180,720 hexahedral nodes.

The M-shaped jumper used for the simulation has a diameter of 25 cm with a suspended span of 30 m and six sharp elbows.

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