A numerical study of liquid film distribution in wet natural gas pipelines

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 129; no. 1; pp. 12019 - 12028
• Main Authors: Gao, X Q, Zhao, Y L, Xu, W W, Guan, X R, Wang, J J, Jin, Y H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.05.2016
• Subjects: Centrifugal force; Computational fluid dynamics; Computer simulation; Film thickness; Fluid flow; Gas pipelines; Liquid films; Liquid membranes; Natural gas; Pipelines; Reynolds number; Shear stress; Simulation; Stress concentration; Turbulence; Turbulent flow; Vapor phases; Volatility; Wall shear stresses; Wave fronts
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/129/1/012019

The software of FLUENT was used to simulate the gas-liquid turbulent flow in wet natural gas pipeline of the Puguang gas field. The RNG k- ɛ model was used to simulate the turbulent flow, the Mixture model was used to simulate gas-liquid mixed phase, and the Eulerian wall film model was used to simulate the formation and development of liquid film. The gas phase flow field characteristics, the distribution of the axial and circumferential film thickness, and the droplet distribution in the pipeline were studied when the gas Reynolds number is 7.72 × 106(10.8m s). The results can be concluded as followed: Liquid film distributes unevenly along the circumferential direction and mostly distributes under the pipeline wall because of gravity. The impact of the dean vortex and centrifugal force in the straight section can also influence the liquid film distribution. The wall shear stress distributions in horizontal straight pipeline is concerned with liquid membrane volatility, and consistent with the film volatility period, the wall shear stress reached the maximum value in a certain position of wave front. The influence of the wall shear stress on the film fluctuation in inclined pipeline is weakened by gravity and other factors.