Experimental and numerical simulation on buried hot fuel oil pipelines in three modes flow regime considering temperature loss during a shutdown

Abstract

Aiming to study the temperature distribution along buried pipelines containing hot fuel oil, a new large-scale laboratory is constructed from the perspective of the corresponding fluid thermophysical properties. Also, a modeling of the pipe-line, and the soil around it, was performed along the pipeline for observation of all three modes of turbulent, laminarization, and laminar flow, which is validated by experimental results. Furthermore, the appropriate data are also gathered from the actual pipeline, 107 km of the 26? pipeline between Abadan Refinery and Mahshahr Port, and the results of the experiment and modeling are reconfirmed. The experiment shows that the viscosity and fluid density of fuel oil is strongly temperature-dependent. Many experiments are performed on the parameters affected by temperature according to their importance. The method chosen to simulate three flow modes along the pipeline shows less than 2% error in turbulent and laminar zones and reveals just a 3% error to experimental data in the laminar region. The maximum safe time during the stopping period of the pipe-line and holding fuel oil in it is calculated based on the pour point of fuel oil. This time is critical for the real pipeline in sudden shutdown and is calculated 41 hours.