ANALYSIS OF PRESSURE DROP AND HEAT TRANSFER OF ANNULAR DEPOSITION TEST UNIT

• Main Author: IBRAHIM ABDALLAH, MUNZIR AHME
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8274/1/2008%20Master%20-%20Analysis%20of%20Pressure%20Drop%20and%20Heat%20Transfer%20of%20Annular%20Deposition%20Test%20Unit.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8274/

Deposition of wax on the internal wall of pipelines is often regarded as a problem since the tube diameter is reduced. Consequently, more power is needed to force the same amount of oil through the system. In order to design efficient sub-sea petroleum production facilities to achieve optimum production returns, it is necessary to understand the phenomena of the wax deposition and provide prediction for the nature of deposits. PETRONAS High Temperature/High Pressure Model Pipeline and Wax Deposition Facility, HT/HPMPWDF, is designed and installed, to investigate and model the process of the wax deposition. In this system, pressure drop and heat transfer are proposed as the key parameters to model the process of the wax deposition. Experiments were carried out to investigate and characterize the hydrothermal performance of the test section of the system. Pressure drop and temperature variation data throughout the test section of the deposition apparatus with varying flow condition were measured and processed analytically. Also, pressure drop and heat transfer data were predicted based on the available correlations. Comparison was made between the two models. For each parameter involved in the pressure drop calculations, a parametric analysis was performed to study its effect on the pressure drop estimation. The discrepancies between the measured and calculated pressure drop results were justified and a realistic pressure drop correlation was developed based on the equivalent length technique. The heat transfer was investigated in terms of the steady state energy balance. Also, several heat transfer correlations were used to predict the heat transfer. Comparison between the theoretical and experimental results reveals that Sandal et. a/. correlation for the convective heat transfer is produced the best agreement with the experimental results. The system is proved to provide an experimental data within an accuracy of 7 % AAPE for the pressure drop and 5% AAPE for the turbulent convective heat transfer. A steady state thermal energy balance of 6 % AAPE is achieved. It could be concluded that the proposed correlations have brought the system to the capability of modeling and predicting the wax deposition formation.