Modeling and simulation on speed prediction of bypass pipeline inspection gauge in medium of water and crude oil

Abstract

Bypass pipeline inspection gauges have the advantages of low cost and bringing no consumption in transportation efficiency and have been widely used in pipe cleaning, inspecting, and maintaining operations. The moving speed of bypass pipeline inspection gauges will seriously affect the results of the operations, so there are strict requirements on the moving speed of bypass pipeline inspection gauges. Because the moving speed of pipeline inspection gauge is difficult to measure or control in real time, it is important to predict it. This paper studies the influencing factors and their impact methods of pipeline inspection gauges’ motion. Through the combination of computational fluid dynamics simulation and friction mathematical model, the relationship between the value of the bypass hole diameter and the pipeline inspection gauges’ moving speed was studied. Under the selected research conditions, when the diameter of the bypass hole is increased from 0.1 to 0.5 m, the moving speed of pipeline inspection gauge in water and crude oil is, respectively, decreased from 2.779 to 0.589 m/s and from 2.777 to 0.373 m/s, and the relationship between them can be approximately described by a function. Based on this principle, the moving speed of pipeline inspection gauge can be predicted mathematically. The experiments also indicate that the density and dynamic viscosity of the transport medium and the deformation amount of the bypass pipeline inspection gauge sealing disk will affect the movement state of pipeline inspection gauge in the pipeline. This research has guiding significance for the design of the pipeline inspection gauges’ structure size, which is beneficial to the pipeline robot to better meet the needs of cleaning, inspecting, and maintaining operations, and has reference value for related researches.