Internal CO2 corrosion in crude oil transport pipelines is always associated with the presence of “free” water, and the likelihood of corrosion generally increases with the volume fraction of the water phase. A recently developed method is applied here to predict the critical velocity for entraining the water by the flowing oil phase. Entrainment of the water eventually eliminates the corrosion problem. The effects of pipe diameter, surface tension, oil viscosity and density on the critical velocity for water entrainment are discussed in detail in this paper.

On the other side, if all the water is not entrained by the flowing oil phase, it is important to predict the thickness of the water film, the in-situ: water cut, film velocity and wetted area. A new model is proposed here that can be used to calculate these parameters, which are crucial for corrosion prediction in multiphase flow. A comparison is carried out between this new model and experiments conducted in large diameter horizontal pipe flow.

Subject
Water, Piping, Droplets, Viscosity, Flow velocity, Dispersion, Mixtures, Density, Pure water, Experimental data, Interfaces, Corrosion modeling, Oil
Keywords:
modeling, water entrainment, water wetting, critical velocity, oil-water flows, three-layer model
© 2004 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2004
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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