2020 Virtual undergraduate Research symposium

Multiphase Flow of Gas-Liquid-Liquid-Solid Systems


PROJECT NUMBER: 10

AUTHOR: Morgan Ezell, Chemical and Biological Engineering | MENTOR: Amadeu Sum, Chemical and Biological Engineering

 

ABSTRACT

This project seeks to model multiphase flow through pipelines via a compact laboratory setup. Having such a model is crucial to industry in solving problems such as transportation of gas, liquid and solid, as typically encountered in the oil and gas industry. Gas hydrates slurry is of particular interest as it is a major concern for accumulation in oil/gas pipelines which can lead to severe disruption to production and impose hazardous conditions. The setup developed to characterize the multiphase flow is denoted as a rock-flow cell, which mimics the flow in an efficient benchtop setup. The first goal of the research has been to set up the rock-flow cell so that quality videos can be obtained so the flow and dispersion of the two (gas-liquid) and three (gas-oil-water) phase systems can be studied under different flow regime conditions. From the videos, image processing tools will be used to extract the relevant data related to phase velocity, phase fraction, and dispersion.

 

VISUAL PRESENTATION

 

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Morgan Ezell is a sophomore in chemical engineering, biological track, with a minor in mathematics. She is honored to have gained research experience in Dr. Sum’s lab and can’t wait to apply this knowledge to her oil and gas consultancy internship this summer. She hopes to continue research in the future while expanding into bio and pharmaceutical-focused labs as well.

 


5 Comments

  1. Very nice setup and good presentation of the information.

    What is the importance and how did you decide to track phase velocity, phase fraction, and dispersion?

    How does rpm speed translate to fluid velocity?

    • The video imaging is meant to track phase dispersion so that a program can be set up in the future that mimics the flow without requiring actual testing. In other words, the idea is to have a program where the angle, rpm, and liquid loading can be entered in and the program will produce an accurate flow regime. Being able to model different types of flows is very important to the oil and gas industry in maintenance, such as preventing buildup, etc. The videos are analyzed using manual tracking, or designating pixels as a certain phase and then tracking the phase boundaries as they move. Higher rpm means higher fluid velocity with regimes more like to be turbulent, etc. Thanks!

  2. Good paper, mostly clear, well motivated, and easy for a nonspecialist to understand. It took me a moment to realize that it is a *rocking cell*, not a cell full of rocks, and also that the video camera must have been mounted on the structure holding the cell. Also, I do not know why you rocked the fluid, rather than pumped it, but I presume that is some kind of standard technique. Finally, I know you were required to write an abstract, but the contents of the abstract would have been better in the form of the subsequent slide (some of the other slides were also too wordy for this kind of presentation, but not dreadfully so). All in all, though, a fine paper.

    • The rock of the cell is meant to utilize gravity as the driving force for flow and not pumping. While pumping is used in the field, it is far cheaper to not use a pump since this requires energy and would require a larger/full piping set-up. Thanks for the comment!

  3. Very good, thanks! It is interesting that you can get the information you want with a nonconstant flow rate. Good work, at any rate, thanks!

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