Dual-Frequency Severe Slugging in Horizontal Pipeline-Riser Systems

Abstract

A new type of severe slugging is found that can occur in two-phase flow of gas and liquid in pipeline-riser systems. This instability, which will be referred to as dual-frequency severe slugging (DFSS), generates a different class of flow oscillations compared to the classical severe slugging cycle, having a dominant single frequency that is commonly found in a pipe downward inclined by a few degrees from the horizontal connected to a vertical riser. The DFSS flow pattern was found in laboratory experiments carried out in a 100 m long, 50.8 mm diameter horizontal pipeline followed by a 15 m high, 50.8 mm diameter vertical riser operating at atmospheric end pressure. The experimental facility also included a 400 liter gas buffer vessel, placed upstream of the pipeline, to obtain extra pipeline compressibility. Air and water were used as the experimental fluids. At constant inflow conditions, we observed a type of severe slugging exhibiting a dual-frequency behavior. The relatively high-frequency fluctuations, which are in the order of 0.01 Hz, are related to the classical severe slugging cycle or to an unstable oscillatory process. The relatively low-frequency fluctuations, which are in the order of 0.001 Hz, are associated with the gradual cyclic transition of the system between two metastable states, i.e., severe slugging and unstable oscillations. Numerical simulations were performed using OLGA, a one-dimensional two-fluid flow model. The numerical model predicts the relatively low-frequency fluctuations associated with the DFSS flow regime. The laboratory experiments and the numerical simulations showed that the evolution of the DFSS is proportional to the length of the pipeline.