MEK 4450 - FMC TECHNOLOGIES

Flow Assurance &

Operability
A System Perspective
Revision 3
Tine Bauck Irmann-Jacobsen and Bjarte Hgland
9/22/2014

The objective of compendium is to give an introduction to system design, from a flow assurance point of
view, for the development of subsea oil and gas fields. The main phases of the design process are
presented. Main Flow Assurance related subjects of interest are presented in brief.
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3
2.0 Subsea Fields ............................................................................................................ 3
2.1 Main drivers for field development of subsea systems ........................................... 4
2.2 Types of fields ........................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Engineering phases ................................................................................................... 6
3.0 Main Flow Assurance challenges in system design .................................................. 8
4.0 Fluid properties ...................................................................................................... 11
5.0 Pipe flow ................................................................................................................. 12
5.1 Derivation of conservation of momentum for single phase flow in pipe .............. 12
5.2 Darcy Weisbach friction factors and Moody chart .............................................. 15
5.3 Pressure drop ......................................................................................................... 17
5.4 Heat transfer in pipe flow....................................................................................... 20
5.4.1 Heat loss over length of pipe - Liquid flow ............................................................. 20
5.5 Water hammer ....................................................................................................... 22
5.5.1 Joukowsky equation ............................................................................................... 22
5.5.2 Unsteady flow in pipes ........................................................................................... 25
6.0 Multiphase flow ...................................................................................................... 29
6.1.1 Flow regimes........................................................................................................... 29
6.2 Slugging................................................................................................................... 32
7.0 Hydrates ................................................................................................................. 34
7.1.1 Hydrate control strategy ........................................................................................ 35
7.1.2 Hydrate prevention ................................................................................................ 36
7.1.3 Hydrate control remediation .................................................................................. 40
7.1.4 Thermal insulation design process ......................................................................... 41
8.0 Flow Induced vibrations ......................................................................................... 42
9.0 Wax ......................................................................................................................... 42
10.0 Erosion .................................................................................................................... 46
10.1 Causes of erosion.................................................................................................... 46
10.1.1 Droplet erosion ....................................................................................................... 46
10.1.2 Cavitation................................................................................................................ 46
10.1.3 Erosion corrosion.................................................................................................... 47
 10.1.4 Sand production and erosion due to produced sand ............................................. 47
10.1.5 Particle trajectories in an elbow ............................................................................. 48
10.1.6 Impact erosion model............................................................................................. 48
10.1.7 Guidelines and sand erosion prediction methods.................................................. 49
11.0 Overview simulation models in flow assurance ..................................................... 51
12.0 Field developments - Concept Selection ................................................................ 53
12.1 Types of fields ......................................................................................................... 53
12.2 Floater/Subsea........................................................................................................ 54
13.0 Examples of field developments with subsea process stations ............................. 56
13.1 Troll Pilot - liquid/liquid separation ........................................................................ 56
13.2 Tordis ...................................................................................................................... 58
13.3 Pazflor - Gas/Liquid Separation and Liquid Boosting ............................................. 60
13.4 Marlim .................................................................................................................... 62
14.0 Vocabulary .............................................................................................................. 63
15.0 Literature ................................................................................................................ 66
16.0 Attachments ........................................................................................................... 68
16.1 Water content in natural gas.................................................................................. 68
1.0 Introduction
Flow assurance is a relatively new term in oil and gas industry. It refers to ensuring
successful and economical flow of hydrocarbon stream from reservoir to the point of
sale. The primary goal of flow assurance is to ensure production of hydrocarbons in a
safe and reliable way and ensure operability through the entire life of field.
Flow Assurance developed because of subsea development including shorter and
longer flowlines transporting of unprocessed multiphase flow.
The term Flow Assurance was first used by Petrobras in the early 1990s in Portuguese
as Garantia do Escoamento (pt::Garantia do Escoamento), meaning literally Guarantee
of Flow, or Flow Assurance.
In order to guaranty feasible, safe and cost effective production for subsea oil and gas
field Flow Assurance needs to covers a number of special engineering fields and is an
extremely diverse subject matter.
In the system design for a subsea oil and gas development Flow Assurance take critical
part in all phases of the project. Flow assurance challenges increase with sea depth, tie-
back distances, harsh environment as well as more complex reservoir fluids.
The various phases of a subsea oil and gas development are presented herein. Some
of the major Flow Assurance focus points are presented and dwelled briefly into.

2.0 Subsea Fields

Subsea fields are characterized by a large network of wells, flowlines and manifolds.
Subsea oil and gas field developments are usually split into Shallow water and
Deepwater categories to distinguish between the different facilities and approaches that
are needed.
The term shallow water or shelf is used for shallow water depths where bottom-founded
facilities like jackup drilling rigs and fixed offshore structures can be used, and where
saturation diving is feasible.
Deepwater is a term often used to refer to offshore projects located in water depths
greater than around 600 feet (200 m sea water depth), where floating drilling vessels
and floating oil platforms are used, and unmanned underwater vehicles are required as
manned diving is not practical.
Shell completed its first subsea well in the Gulf of Mexico in 1961.
Subsea production systems can range in complexity from a single satellite well with a
flowline linked to a fixed platform, Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO)
unit or an onshore installation, to complex subsea process stations and several wells on
a template or clustered around a manifold, and transferring to a fixed or floating facility,
or directly to an onshore installation.
The development of subsea oil and gas fields requires specialized equipment. The
equipment must be reliable enough to safe guard the environment, and make the
exploitation of the subsea hydrocarbons economically feasible. The deployment of such
equipment requires specialized and expensive vessels, which need to be equipped with
diving equipment for relatively shallow equipment work (i.e. a few hundred meter water
depth maximum), and robotic equipment for deeper water depths. Any requirement to
repair or intervene with installed subsea equipment is thus normally very expensive.
Subsea technology in offshore oil and gas production is a highly specialized field of
application with particular demands on engineering, simulation and flow assurance
knowledge. Most of the new oil and gas fields are located in deepwater and are
generally referred to as deepwater systems. Development of these fields sets strict
requirements for verification of the various systems functions and their compliance with
current requirements and specifications, which is why flow assurance has a high focus
in these types of development.

Figure 1: Example subsea field system characterized by a large network of wells,

flowlines and manifolds.

2.1 Main drivers for field development of subsea systems

The main motivation for the development of an oil/gas field is in general to
maximized production of oil or gas from reservoir to receiving facilities.
The main parameters from a flow assurance perspective are the reservoir fluid
properties, pressure and temperature.
Main parameters for selection of system solution are technical feasibility, safety,
reliability and cost.
 Main focus areas dealt with are hydrates, wax, erosion, flow induced vibrations
and water hammer.
The flow assurance specialist must be able to design multiphase systems to
ensure the safe, uninterrupted transport of reservoir fluids to the
processing facilities.
Keywords for subsea design are robustness, simplicity and efficiency. The
equipment needs to operate for decades with a minimum of down time or
required maintenance.

2.2 Types of fields

Fields are divided between types of production fluid e.g. oil or gas fields. In both cases
the fluid will be multiphase incorporating; oil, gas and water, but in a typical gas field the
amount of gas compare to liquid or oil will be dominant.
The production fluid is characterized by the gas oil ration (GOR) and gas liquid ratio
(GLR). The GOR is calculated based on standard conditions of the fluid rates while the
GLR are usually based on calculations of the actual fluid rates.
The fields are also divided in Old (Brown) and New (Green) fields. New developments
of old fields are often called increased oil (gas) recovery developments, as the objective
is to recover more of the fluid from the reservoir.
All fields are unique which means that the combination of fluid properties, pressures and
temperatures and field layout must be evaluated for each new field.
Some new fields are difficult accessible fields
very deep water
extremely deep reservoirs
extremely shallow reservoirs
long tie-ins
heavy oil with high viscosity
high temperature/high pressure reservoirs
low temperature reservoirs

See section 7.0 for further details.

2.3 Engineering phases
A field is developed in several phases. Flow Assurance is an important part of each
phase from concept evaluation to tail end production.

Concept
Detailed Operatio Tail end
Evaluation FEED
Engineering n production
s

Figure 2: Phases in a field development

Feasibility/concept phase
In the feasibility and concept phase screening of different alternative solutions are one
of the main activities. Possible showstoppers and opportunities for each option
considered shall be identified. Flow Assurance contributes with system understanding,
identification of specific challenges into this unique system related to fluid properties,
multiphase handling and driving pressure. An outline of the production and process
system for each option is created.
Among the various development options screened the ones deemed feasible are then
ranked among many things with respect to safety, cost, technologic maturity and
operability. One or two options are then moved into the FEED phase.
Main type of tools used aiding flow assurance:
1D multiphase simulations software like; FlowManager or OLGA. Mainly
looking at pressure and temperature drops and flow regimes in flow lines.
Heavy slugging should be avoided.

Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase

In the FEED phase a concept is usually selected (or it might be a ranking of concepts)
and the challenges identified in the concept phase are investigated in more detail.
Further Flow Assurance challenges are identified and mitigating actions are identified.
The Flow Assurance engineer needs to supply strategies to handle a multitude of issues
such as erosive wear, flow induced vibrations, hydrates, wax, thermal cold spots and
dead legs, pressure drop and temperature drop among many things. It shall be
concluded on whether an issue can be solved in the detailed engineering phase or not.
Main type of tools used aiding flow assurance:
1D multiphase simulations softwares; FlowManager or OLGA
 Sand erosion screening tools; DNV-RP-O501 or Tulsa
Flow induced vibration screening; Energy Institute guideline and/or detailed
structural analysis
Thermal design tools

Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) phase

In the EPC phase detailed analysis is carried out to ensure that all Flow Assurance
requirements are implemented to the specification of the customer. Also operational
monitoring systems and development of process procedures are part of the flow
assurance responsibility.
Main type of tools used aiding flow assurance:
1D multiphase simulations softwares; FlowManager or OLGA
Sand erosion screening tools; DNV-RP-O501 or Tulsa and CFD sand erosion
simulations
Flow induced vibration screening; Detailed structural analysis
Thermal design tools: thermal finite element analysis (FEA) and thermal CFD
simulations

Operation
During operation of the field the flow assurance engineer is involved in online monitoring
of the system. Provide advice on flow assurance, operating procedures, surveillance,
production optimization and de-bottlenecking for fields in operation.

Tail end production / Increased Oil (gas) recovery (IOR) or extension of life of field
Tail end production can result in an increased oil (gas) recovery development which
starts all over from concept evaluations and through a FEED, detailed engineering and
new operation. Evaluations from the first engineering phase must then be taken into the
design of the new engineering.
3.0 Main Flow Assurance challenges in system design

Figure 3: Field schematic showing flow assurance challenges that need to be

addressed in a subsea multiphase production system

Table 1: Includes an overview of the main flow assurance issues and the tasks and
analysis to be performed for any system
Potential issues Evaluations / studies to be performed
Hydrate formation Develop hydrate management strategy
(Understand actual Company hydrate strategy if already
existing)
Requirement of insulation
Freezing valves (valve design)
Drainage of equipment
Deadleg design
Ensure MEG/Methanol distribution (if actual)
MEG/methanol injection points
Potential issues Evaluations / studies to be performed
Wax deposits Establish WAT (Wax Appereance Temperature)
Insulation requirements
Pigging requirements
Multiphase flow Branching
Branching Ensure MEG distribution
Ensure liquid distribution
Flow regime
Fluid properties Establish or verify hydrate formation temperature
Establish or verify wax appearance temperature
Validate PVT data stated from company and ensure
consistency to viscosities and densities
Establish composition to be used in the different simulations
tools; HYSYS steady state, OLGA, CFD, HYSYS dynamics,
Calculations input to hydrate formation potential and gas
ingress
Sand production Erosion (see erosion)
Sand accumulation
Erosion due to sand General assessment with DNV-RP-0501
production Detailed investigation with CFD
Sand management
Steering criteria for production
Thermal requirement General assessment based on hydrate strategy, wax
management and assessment of influence of temperature on
process as separation / compression
Insulation
No-touch time
Cool down time
Detailed investigation of thermal requirements with FEA and
CFD
Multiphase Conceptual screening
simulations Bottlenecking of pressure drop
Flow regime Control of flow regime in flowlines
investigation Control of flow regime inlet separation equipement
investigated by simulations/testing
OLGA/FlowManager dynamic simulations to investigate
inlet conditions
Terrain slugging in OLGA and Flow Manager simulations in upstream and
flowline downstream flowlines
Simulation model, OLGA /Flow Manager, corresponding to
actual geometries inlet, on station and outlet
Riser slugging and Simulations by OLGA and Flow Manager to investigate
stability oscillation velocities related to sand transport and process
control
Simulations of after flushing outlet conditions
Gas lift
Potential issues Evaluations / studies to be performed
Dynamic simulations Impact from shut-down, start-up, sensitivity to flow regimes
are incorporated in the simulations and in the flow assurance
strategies
Operational Hydrate strategy, de-pressurization and other Flow
Philosophy Assurance issues are properly handled in operational
procedures with special emphasize on shut-down and start-
up
Water Hammer Analysis to be performed
effects
Chemical injection General requirements
points and PDT
instrumentation
Emulsion Company premises: Downhole injection of de-emulsifiers
through gas-lift valve
The use of de-emulsifiers affects the design of the separation
equipment
Corrosion Material selection
Asphaltenes Evaluation composition and chemicals
Flow induced Evaluations flow induced vibrations
vibrations
Monitoring Online FAS (Flow Assurance System)
CPM (Conditioning Performance Monitoring)
Figure 4: Potential field challenges

4.0 Fluid properties

When an oil and/or gas field is discovered several exploration and appraisal wells are
drilled to characterize the reservoir. Several samples of the reservoir fluid are taken.
These are tested in labs and characterized and form the basis for determining the fluid
properties for the field.

Fluid compositions are entered into a PVT equation of state software such as PVTsim
or MultiFlash and tuned against fluid properties at reservoir conditions. Once the fluid
has been properly characterized and tuned PVT simulations may determine the fluid
properties for all operational conditions and is the main input tool providing input data to:
Reservoir simulation tools
Pipeline multiphase simulations tools
Process simulation tools
Physical fluid properties needed for detailed FEA and CFD simulations.
Hydrate management by providing hydrate equilibrium curves and identifying required amount of hydrate
inhibitor.
Wax and asphaltenes management by providing wax appearance temperatures
 Preliminary temperature drop calculations over production chokes.

5.0 Pipe flow

5.1 Derivation of conservation of momentum for single phase flow
in pipe
This section derives the momentum equation for single phase flow in an inclined pipe.
The equation is derived for the control volume (CV) shown in Figure 49.

Vertical
elevation

1
Flow
2
CV
mg sin(
)
D

mg

Figure 5: Control volume in inclined pipe.

Conservation of momentum, commonly known as Newtons 2nd law, for the control
volume in Figure 49 is given as:

Equation 1

Here
Parameter Explanation
Mass in control volume
Acceleration of the fluid particle defined by
the control volume.
 Sum of all forces acting on the control
volume.

The rate of momentum change on the left hand side of Equation 29 for the control
volume may be defined as

Equation 2

Here
Parameter Explanation
Average (constant) density of fluid in
control volume.
Length of control volume.
Average (constant) cross-sectional area of
the control volume
Average velocity in control volume.
Average volume flow rate in control
volume.

The forces acting on the control volume are:

- Normal acting pressure forces
- Shear stress frictional force
- Gravitational force

Hence the total force on the right hand side of Equation 29 for the control volume is

( ) Equation 3

Here
Parameter Explanation
Parameter Explanation
Cross-sectional area (assumed constant)
in control volume.
Pressure at location 1
Pressure at location 2
Mass in control volume
Average (constant) density of fluid in
control volume.
Length of control volume.
Average (constant) cross-sectional area of
the control volume
Gravitational acceleration.
Diameter of control volume (assumed
constant)
Angle of inclination for the pipe
Sin-function of angle of inclination.
( )

Elevation change along pipe section

defined by the control volume.
Wall shear stress

The wall shear stress may be expressed introducing Darcy Weisbach friction factor :

Equation 4

The frictional force term may be expressed as:

Equation 5
Here is the commonly used term for pressure drop due to friction in a
pipe.

The sum of forces acting on the control volume may be summarized as:

( ) Equation 6

Combining Equation 30 and Equation 34 yields the momentum equation

( ) Equation 7

For incompressible and steady state the above equation reduces to

Equation 8

The pressure drop is expressed as by two terms: a gravitational contribution and a

frictional contribution.

5.2 Darcy Weisbach friction factors and Moody chart

The Darcy Weisbach friction factor (Equation 32) may be expressed as follows:

Laminar flow
Turbulent flow Equation 9
(Haaland) [ (( ) )]

Here
Parameter Explanation
Darcy Weisbach friction factor
Wall roughness
Internal pipe diameter
 Dimensional less Reynolds number

Fluid density
Fluid velocity

Equation 37 utilizes commonly known correlations for friction factors for the laminar and
turbulent flow regimes, however the transition between laminar flow regime and
turbulent flow regime is set at a Reynolds number of 2300. Equation 37 does not
properly address the transitional flow regimes observed moving from laminar to
turbulent flow. The implementation of the friction factors in Equation 37 is not
recommended as it is known to cause numerical instabilities due to the discontinuity in
the friction factor moving from laminar flow regime into the turbulent flow regime. In
reality no such discontinuity occurs; a smooth transition between laminar and turbulent
flow regime is seen; see reference [5].

Figure 6; Moody diagram for Equation 37; discontinuous friction factor.

Transitional flow regime occurs for Reynolds numbers in the range ;

see reference /4/ and /5/. It is recommended to calculate the friction factor for the
laminar, transitional and turbulent flow regimes as detailed in reference [5] chapter 6.3
to eliminate discontinuities in the Darcy Weisbach friction factor. Figure 51 is
illustrating a smooth transition in friction factors from the laminar and turbulent flow
regimes.

Figure 7: Moody diagram with transitional flow regime accounted for.

5.3 Pressure drop

In the start the natural gas or oil in a reservoir flows to the surface by the reservoir
pressure. When the pressure drop between reservoir and receiving facilities gets too
large to overcome the pressure drop in the system, the wells stop producing and the
flow in the line will stop. The life of the well is a dynamic process and often water
production from the wells increase in late life. The wells will be closed down when the
cost of handling the water production is higher than the value of the oil and gas
produced.
During the production the reservoir will be more and more drained and the reservoir
pressure will decrease. The pressure gradient from well head to receiving facilities
governs the production rate. It is therefore important to reduce the pressure drop
between the well head and the receiving facilities.
The pressure drop is influenced by many different parameters in multiphase flow. All of
these parameters need to be evaluated and calculated in all parts of a system. The
following parameters have impact on the pressure drop in multiphase production
systems.
Frictional pressure drop
o For long flowlines the contribution from the friction between flow and fluid
is the most dominant parameter that causes pressure drop (see
exercises).
Hydraulic resistance in pipe components
o There are contributions to pressure drop from every bend, valve and
process module in a system. Especially on a subsea station these impacts
need to be calculated and reduced to a minimum. In some cases a high
consciousness of this can result in an optimal design with regards to
minimum pressure drop.
Gravity forces
o The weight of the height column of multiphase will be important in the
vertical part of the well, long flowlines and risers (see exercises)
Fluid, amount of liquid
o In multiphase flow the fluid phases will vary in different parts of the system
and in different parts of production life according to temperature, pressure
and rates. As can be seen from Equation 2, density is one of the
parameters that influence on pressure drop, and in general more liquid
give a higher pressure drop than very dry gas. This means i.e. that when a
well start to produce more water along with oil and/or gas, the pressure
drop will increase resulting in lower production rates and hence even
lower gas/and or oil rates.
Length of flowline
o In some fields the distance to shore from field is a governing parameter.
Solutions as separation of liquid and gas and boosting with pump and
compressor are evaluations to be done to see what is necessary to get a
driving pressure in the system.
Velocity
o Higher velocities increase pressure drop. This is important to evaluate in
line sizing.
Temperature increase actual flow
o Water is nearly incompressible and the impact from temperature on the
actual flow is low. This is not the case in gas, which is highly
compressible. The actual flow will increase with higher temperature and
resulting in a higher velocity, which again impacts on the pressure drop.
 Density
o The density in multiphase will be a function of the rates of the three
phases, the temperature and pressure.

Contribution from gravity forces on pressure drop

( ) Equation 10

Contribution from friction on pressure drop (Darcy-Weisbach)

Equation 11

Figure 8: Steady state pressure drop and hold-up versus production rate
5.4 Heat transfer in pipe flow
5.4.1 Heat loss over length of pipe - Liquid flow

( )

V
D
() ( )
dx

Figure 9: Steady state flow in pipe section with heat loss to ambient

Consider the pipe section depicted above. Fluid is flowing at steady state through the
pipe. The fluid temperature changes over the length of the pipe as heat is either lost or
gained from the ambient. The heat balance for the heat section may be described by
( ( ) ( )) ( ( ) ) Equation 12

The above equation results in the simple differential equation

( ( ) ) Equation 13

The solution to the above differential equation is

( ) ( ( ) ) Equation 14
Here
Parameter Explanation
( ) Temperature along the pipeline [C]
Ambient temperature outside pipe [C]
Overall outer heat transfer coefficient defined at pipe ID [W/(m2K)]
Inner pipe diameter (ID) [m]
Parameter Explanation
Mass flow rate [kg/s]
Heat capacity [J/(kg K)]
5.5 Water hammer
The presentation of water hammer theory in this section follows closely the presentation
in Hydraulics of pipeline systems [8].
When velocities in a pipe system changes so rapidly that the elastic properties of the
pipe and liquid must be considered in an analysis, we have a hydraulic transient
commonly known has water hammer. Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve is
closed quickly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the
pipe. It may also be known as hydraulic shock.

5.5.1 Joukowsky equation

Consider the simple pipe flow below with constant liquid flow towards the right with
velocity V. The valve positioned downstream is initially open.

Constant upstream pressure Valve

Figure 10: Constant liquid flow in a straight pipe.

Consider further the event that the downstream valve suddenly closes. The flowing
liquid immediately upstream the valve will come to an abrupt stop and the pressure
upstream the valve will have to increase an amount just sufficient to reduce the
momentum of the moving liquid to zero. The abrupt valve closure causes an increase in
pressure which will travel in the upstream direction. The question is how large is the
pressure increase due to the abrupt valve closure?

As the valve closes the pressure upstream the valve increases to overcome the
momentum of the liquid. As the pressure increases the liquid gets compressed and the
liquid density increases. Also the pressure increase slightly enlarges the pipe.
Assume the pressure wave travels upstream with a velocity . Consider Figure 20
showing an unsteady control volume centered on the pressure wave traveling upstream
the pipe after the valve closure.
 V a V+V

Figure 11: Unsteady control volume for water hammer analysis

The flow is not steady as the control volume is moving, so the linear equations for
steady flow do not apply. Instead it is possible to assume the reference system moves
towards the left with a velocity as depicted in Figure 21:

V+a V+V+a

Figure 12: Steady flow control volume for water hammer analysis.

Let's detail the forces acting on the control volume in further details
 Area: A+A
Area: A
Density: +
Density:
F3
F2
V+a V+V+a
F1
Fs
Fn
L

(1) (2)

Figure 13: Steady flow control volume for water hammer with all forces shown.

The wall shear force due to friction will be ignored. Also we only consider relatively
strong pipe materials such as steel the pipe bulge is very small and so is neglected.
We assume uniform flow velocity and consider the linear momentum equation parallel to
the pipe for the control volume in Figure 22:

( ) Equation 15

[( ) ( )]
Equation 16

Here ( ) . Assume the pressure at (1) is then the pressure at (2) is .

Then Equation 5 reads:

( )( ) ( )
Equation 17

The increase in pipe cross sectional area is very small and can be ignored so the
pressure increase can be simplified as

( ) ( )
Equation 18

In most rigid pipes the value of is very small and the pressure increase due to a
decrease in velocity is

Equation 19
The pressure pulse wave speed is denoted the sonic speed or speed of sound in the
fluid filled pipe. The sonic speed is dependent on the fluid bulk modulus, elasticity of the
pipe and the amount of entrapped gas present in the liquid system.
Equation 8 is sometimes referred to as Joukowsky's equation and gives the maximum
amplitude of the pressure pulse due to an abrupt valve closure.

5.5.2 Unsteady flow in pipes

Unsteady flow in pipes may be described using two independent partial differential
equations for pressure and velocity

The Euler equation (momentum equation)

| |
Equation 20

The conservation of mass equation

Equation 21

The pressure may be described in terms of piezometric head via the relation
( ). (Remember ( ).) Hence

[ ( )] [( )]
Equation 22

So the momentum equation becomes

| |
Equation 23

The equation for conservation of mass becomes

Equation 24

The total time derivatives in Equation 12 and Equation 13 are defined as

Equation 25
So both equations involve non-linear terms. For the moment let us assume the linear
terms in the momentum and the conservation of mass equation are larger than the non-
linear terms in addition to the non-linear friction term. We may evaluate later the
consequences of this simplification. The simplified equations become

Equation 26

and

Equation 27

The equations are linear so cross-differentiation will low us to eliminate one of the
unknowns

( ) Equation 28

Hence the piezometric head is governed by the wave equation

Equation 29

It can be shown that the velocity also is governed by this equation.

In Equation 18 the parameter is known as the wave propagation speed. Assuming
( ) and introducing as new independent variables and
we get

Equation 30

And

( )
Equation 31

In a similar fashion

Equation 32
And

( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( ) ( ) Equation 33

So by introducing and as new independent variables Equation 18 reduces to

Equation 34

The general solution to Equation 23 is a solution

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Equation 35

Here is a constant and is a function of and is a function of .

Consider , if the time passes from to the function has the same value
if

Equation 36

Or if

( ) Equation 37

So as time advances the argument remains constant if decreases with the same
amount as the time increases. So is a leftward moving wave with an absolute velocity
. In the same fashion it can be argued that is a rightward moving wave with absolute
velocity . The general solution to Equation 18 is a superposition of left and right moving
waves, moving at absolute velocity .

In deriving Equation 29 nonlinear terms in the conservation of momentum equation and

the mass conservation equation were ignored. These terms are

, and
Equation 38
Let us assume a scaling to the terms in Equation 38 and we find

Equation 39

For almost all cases and the convective terms are negligible. Only in rare cases
were the flowing velocity is comparable to the sonic velocity is it important to include
the non-linear convective terms.
6.0 Multiphase flow
Multiphase flow describes multi-component systems in which the interaction between
the different components has a major influence on the overall flow structure. In the oil
and gas industry multiphase flow is the combined flow of gas, condensate/oil and water
in a pipe. There are very few cases in multiphase flow in which the problem can be
simplified and still retain the essential physics. Some examples of how to simplify and
derive at evaluations in multiphase problems are given in the exercises. Numerical
simulation models are therefore necessary tools for designing multiphase systems.
There exist several numerical simulation tools and models.

Figure 14: Multiphase flow; water, oil, gas

6.1.1 Flow regimes

The behavior of the gas and liquid in a flowing pipe will exhibit various flow
characteristics depending on the gas pressure, gas velocity and liquid content, as well
as orientation of the piping (horizontal, sloping or vertical). The liquid may be in the form
of tiny droplets or the pipe may be filled completely with liquid. Despite the complexity of
gas and liquid interaction, attempts have been made to categorize this behavior. These
gas and liquid interactions are commonly referred to as flow regimes or flow patterns.
Annular mist flow occurs at high gas velocities. A thin film of liquid is present around
the annulus of the pipe. Typically most of the liquid is entrained in the form of droplets in
the gas core. As a result of gravity, there is usually a thicker film of liquid on the bottom
of the pipe as opposed to the top of the pipe.
Stratified (smooth) flow exists when the gravitational separation is complete. The
liquid flows along the bottom of the pipe as gas flows over the top. Liquid holdup in this
regime can be large but the gas velocities are low.
Stratified wave flow is similar to stratified smooth flow, but with a higher gas velocity.
The higher gas velocity produces waves on the liquid surface. These waves may
become large enough to break off liquid droplet at the peaks of the waves and become
entrained in the gas. These droplets are distributed further down the pipe.
Slug flow is where large frothy waves of liquid form a slug that can fill the pipe
completely. These slugs may also be in the form of a surge wave that exists upon a
thick film of liquid on the bottom of the pipe.
Elongated bubble flow consists of a mostly liquid flow with elongated bubbles present
closer to the top of the pipe.
Dispersed flow assumes a pipe is completely filled with liquid with a small amount of
entrained gas. The gas is in the form of smaller bubbles. These bubbles of gas have a
tendency to reside in the top region of the pipe as gravity holds the liquid in the bottom
of the pipe.

Figure 15: Flow regimes

Figure 16: Flow regime transition map for horizontal multiphase flow
From the flow regime transition map it can be seen that multiphase flow attends
different flow regimes. These flow regimes are dependent on the difference in rate and
velocity between the phases. In the figures above the multiphase flow is simplified to
two phase flow, gas and liquid. Simulation models that solve the full Navier-Stokes
equations for three phase flow can indicate which flow regime is present at any time in
the pipe.

Table 2: Example transition between flow regimes in FlowManagerTM simulations

In the table above Flow Manager multiphase simulation model has simulated
multiphase flow in 120 km long flow lines. FlowManager is a hydraulic steady state
model that solves the Navier - Stokes equations for multiphase flow. It is used as an
online monitoring tool for well management in the North Sea and outside Angola. It can
also be used to simulate how a new system will behave. In the table above the
simulations have been used to predict flow regimes for different pipe sizes and different
rates. As can be seen the flow regime varies along the line with temperature and
pressure. This is because the temperature and pressure drop along the line and
impacts on the equilibrium between the phases and the amount of oil, water and natural
gas change, which again impacts on the actual velocity along the pipe and the flow
regime. In the transition map this is illustrated by the operating point of the fluid moving
from stratified to annular flow. In this particular case the amount of liquid is small which
indicate that the flow regime transition is in the lower part of the map.
As can be seen from Equation 3, the mass flow rate is dependent on the velocity,
density and area occupied by each phase. To move towards a slug regime the mass
rate of liquid must increase, and this happens either by increase of the velocity of the
liquid or by increase in area occupied by the liquid.

Equation 40

Here is the superficial velocity of each phase. Each phase will have an individual
equation.

6.2 Slugging
In a multiphase system the design should attempt to reduce slugging.
Terrain slugging is caused by the elevations in the pipeline, which follows the ground
elevation or the sea bed. Liquid can accumulate at a low point of the pipeline until
sufficient pressure builds up behind it. Once the liquid is pushed out of the low point, it
can form a slug.
Hydrodynamic slugging is caused by gas flowing at a fast rate over a slower flowing
liquid phase. The gas will form waves on the liquid surface, which may grow to bridge
the whole cross-section of the line. This creates a blockage on the gas flow, which
travels as a slug through the line.
Riser-based slugging, also known as severe slugging, is associated with the pipeline
risers often found in offshore oil production facilities. Liquids accumulate at the bottom
of the riser until sufficient pressure is generated behind it to push the liquids over the top
of the riser, overcoming the static head. Behind this slug of liquid follows a slug of gas,
until sufficient liquids have accumulated at the bottom to form a new liquid slug.
Pigging/ramp-up slugs are caused by pigging operations in the pipeline. The pig is
designed to push all or most of the liquids contents of the pipeline to the outlet. This
intentionally creates a liquid slug.
Operationally induced surges: Created by forcing the system from one steady-state to
another. For example during ramp-up or pigging operations

Figure 17: Operational induced surges

7.0 Hydrates
Hydrates are crystalline material that forms when light hydrocarbon molecules mix with
water at appropriate pressure and temperature conditions. In oil system it is not
necessary to have a separate gas phase in close contact with water as there is enough
hydrate forming components presents in a hydrocarbon liquid phase.

A massive and uncontrolled formation of hydrates can result in restriction in the flowline
that can eventually develop into a full blockage; resulting in stop in production. Hydrate
prevention is a key flow assurance focus area.

The following conditions are required to form hydrates:

Free water (water in liquid form)
Small molecules like: methane, ethane, propane, n-butane, carbon dioxide
Sufficiently high pressure: typically above 10-20bar at ambient
temperature
Sufficiently low temperatures: typically below 20 - 25 C.

Figure 18: Hydrates are not ice.

Figure 19: Hydrate blockage in a pipeline

The common hydrate control strategy is to operate outside the thermodynamic hydrate
formation envelope in all operational scenarios. Hydrate control philosophy is field
specific and selection of hydrate control strategy is based on theoretical estimated
hydrate equilibrium conditions.
Figure 12 shows curves for hydrate dissociation curve for two compositions. Hydrates
form in the domain over the curve. Moving down and crossing the curves the hydrates
start to melt.

300

250

200
Pressure [kgf/cm]

150

100 Wellfluid with gaslift

Wellfluid

50

0
T = 4C
0 5 10 15 20 25
Temperature [C]

Figure 20: Example of hydrate curve

Hydrate equilibrium curves are calculated for a given composition using PVT equation
of state software such as PVTsim and MulitFlash.

7.1.1 Hydrate control strategy

All different operational modes needs to be covered by a hydrate control strategy:

 Normal production
Planned shutdown
Unplanned shutdown
Restart after the different shutdown scenarios
Remediation

7.1.2 Hydrate prevention

In order to prevent hydrates from being formed, one have to eliminate at least one of the
conditions required for their formations, see section 3.5. Hydrate prevention methods
can be categorized as follows:
Removal of water
Chemical injection
Hydraulic methods
Heat control methods

Removal of water
Risk of hydrates forming can be alleviated by controlling the amount of water present.
For example by well completion, reservoir management and subsea processing
(separation).

For gas export lines hydrates are prevented by dehydrating the gas to a specific water
dew-point such that no free water will be present at operating conditions.

For oil dominated systems separators are required to remove water. This can be
performed topside or subsea.

Chemical injection
Chemical injection of chemicals such as methanol (MeOH) and monoethylene glycol
(MEG) are commonly used for hydrate prevention. Chemical injection can either be
continuous or sporadic to help in certain operational scenarios such as shutdown and
startup.

Two main classes of hydrate inhibitors exist:

Thermodynamic inhibitors are chemical that lower the hydrate equilibrium
temperature. They act in the water phase for inhibition of hydrate. Commonly used
chemicals are MeOH and MEG.

Figure 13 shows the hydrate equilibrium curve for a gas field fluid for increasing amount
of MEG added. Notice how adding MEG moves the equilibrium curve towards lower
temperatures.

Figure 21: Show how the hydrate curve moves towards left when MEG is inhibited in
system
Low-concentration inhibitors (kinetics and anti-agglomerants) are added in low
concentration. Two types exist:
Kinetic inhibitors delay the formation of hydrates by a certain length of
time at temperatures below the HET; 6 - 24 hours typically.
Anti-agglomerants allow hydrates to form as transportable slurry thereby
preventing plugging.
Hydraulic methods
Hydraulic hydrate control methods covers several options:

Fluid displacement
Fluid displacement means that the content in the entire flow line or subsea component
is replaced with a non hydrate forming fluid during or prior to a planned shutdown. The
displacement fluid can be dead oil, diesel or MEG.

Compression method
For gas systems compressing the system prior to restart will result in a temperature
increase which places the fluid outside the hydrate forming domain.

Depressurization
Depressurization is a widely used strategy for avoiding hydrates formation for a planned
and unplanned shutdown. Depressurization needs to be performed before the
uninhibited fluid enters the hydrate forming domain. Partial depressurization during
shutdown may help increase the cooldown time and the time before other hydrate
control measurements need to be taken.

Heat control methods

Insulation
Thermal insulation is commonly used for limiting the temperature loss of subsea
equipment and shorter flowlines. During normal production thermal insulation ensures
that the production fluid temperatures are kept well above hydrate equilibrium
temperatures during flowing conditions.
Thermal insulation is also used for buying the operator more time reducing how quickly
the system cools down after a planned or unplanned shutdown. Normally the operation
of the field requires a minimum cooldown period for before the production fluid moved
into hydrate formation domain.
The cooldown time (CDT) is the time it takes for the production fluid to cool down to
actual HET at current conditions. The different phases does not cools down identically;
gas phase will cool down the fastes. Typically the cooldown time consist of a no touch
time (NTT) and an implementation time (IMT).
The NTT is the time required after shutdown where the fluid is allowed to stay
untouched before the start of implementing any hydrate control methods.
The IMT is the time to implement hydrate control methods.
Design of thermal insulation for subsea components needs to meet the customer
specified cooldown time allowing safe operation of the system. The thermal insulation
design is a focus area and a vital part of detailed design.
Components transporting heat to the ambient are classified as cold spots. These are
typically valves, support structures, instrumentation.
Other focus areas for thermal design are deal legs. Dead legs are pipe segments
containing stagnant unhibited production fluid. These should be eliminated if possible or
the length of the dead legs should be minimized.
Cold spots and dead legs are main components focused on in the thermal insulation
design.
Detailed finite element and computational fluid dynamics simulations are often needed
to properly design the thermal insulation. Design of thermal insulation can also be
confirmed by full scale cooldown test of subsea production equipment in large water
filled test pits.

Figure 22: Thermal analysis

Figure 23: Removal of hydrate blockage

Active heat control methods
Hydrates can be prevented by adding heat to the production fluid. Several options exist:
- Heat tracing adds heat to specific components
- Pipeline bundling consist of a carries pipe with one or several internal oil
production and/or gas injection lines together with lines for circulation of a
heating medium.
- Direct Electric Heating may be used for long pipelines during shutdown to
maintain the flowline temperature above the hydrate forming temperature.

7.1.3 Hydrate control remediation

The best way of avoiding the formation of forming is to properly design the subsea
production equipment. Key points in a design are:
- Eliminate low points
- Eliminate dead legs
- Optimal location of instruments
- Optimal location of chemical injection points
- Liquid drainage to remove liquid from the actual pipe section

Fields need to be designed properly to minimize unwanted hydrate plugs. However, the
risk cannot be entirely eliminated so remediation methods must be identified in the
design phase.
Hydrate remediation methods may be organized as follows:
Chemical injection
Heating
Depressurization
Mechanical methods

Chemical injection
Thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors are used to melt hydrate plugs. The chemical needs
to be able to reach the plug so the number of and the locations of injection points are of
great importance.

Heating
By heating the system the temperature will move out of the hydrate region and plugs
may melt. Heating to remove hydrates presents a high risk as large amounts of gas is
released when melting hydrates causing a large pressure buildup. 1 m3 of hydrates may
contain typically 0.8 m3 of water and 150 Sm3 of gas.

Depressurization
Depressurization is commonly used for removing hydrate plugs. Care has to be taken
though. Reducing the pressure on one side of the plug only may cause the plug to travel
like a projectile though the piping driven by the high pressure on the other side of the
plug. The plug may then cause great damage to the piping.

Mechanical methods
Hydrated may be removed by mechanical means using pigging, hydrate tractors or by
replacing the piping.

7.1.4 Thermal insulation design process

Of particular importance in the thermal insulation design is the identifying and

elimination of cold spots and dead legs in the subsea system. The thermal design of a
subsea system is a multidiscipline task involving component design, piping design and
flow assurance including cold spot management and thermal analyses. Thermal finite
element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) play an important role
in the development of thermal insulation design of complex components.
The approach to thermal design consists of several steps:
1. Description of thermal requirements

2. Initial insulation design based on experience

3. Identify potential problem areas

4. Establish thermal management plan for cold spots

5. Incorporate design improvements in accordance with results

8.0 Flow Induced vibrations
The dynamic response of structures immersed in (external induced i.e. vortex shedding
from sea currents) or conveying (internal induced i.e. vortexes from turbulence or
bends) fluid flow. Fluid flow is a source of energy that can induce structural and
mechanical oscillations. Flow-induced vibrations best describe the interaction that
occurs between the fluid's dynamic forces and a structure's inertial, damping, and
elastic forces.

9.0 Wax
Wax is a class of hydrocarbons that are natural constituents of any crude oil and most
gas condensates. Waxy oils may create problems in oil production due to three main
reasons:
Restricted flow due to reduced inner diameter in pipelines and increased wall
roughness
Increased viscosity of the oil
Settling of wax in storage tanks
First, there is a potential for the wax to crystallize and adhere onto surfaces like the pipe
wall in a pipeline and thereby form a deposit layer which will increase with time and
eventually, in the worst case, completely block the line. Such deposition will reduce the
capacity of the line by decreasing the effective diameter and increasing the wall
roughness and thus the pressure drop in turbulent flow. For any pipeline experiencing
wax deposition, there has to be a wax control strategy. Most often, the wax control
strategy simply consists of scraping the wax away from the pipe wall by regular pigging.
Sometimes, substantial quantities of wax are removed from the line. In one case several
tons of wax was collected in the pig trap at Statfjord B after pigging the line from Snorre
B.
Figure 24: Part of wax plug retrieved from the pig trap at Statfjord B (sept 2001)

Secondly, wax precipitation causes the bulk viscosity of the oil to increase sharply and
become shear-rate dependent (non-Newtonian), leading to increased pressure losses.
Ultimately, when a sufficient amount of solid wax has precipitated (approximately 4-6
wt%), the wax tends to form a three-dimensional network resulting in even larger
viscosity increase ending up with a completely gelled structure with solid-like
mechanical properties. Particularly during production shut-downs, when the oil is
allowed to cool statically in the pipeline, this may be a severe situation, since high
pressure may be required to break down the gel structure upon restart. When
performing regular pigging of a pipeline, the internal diameter is maintained as no/little
wax deposit is allowed to build up. This will ensure an efficient flow.

Figure 25: Wax can deposit at inner walls if the temperature is below WAT
Figure 26: Manipulation of WAT by separation at different stages/temperatures.
The wax appearance temperature (WAT) in the gas phase can be manipulated through
separation at different stages/temperatures.

Table 3: U-value sensitivity to evaluate whether insulation can be used as wax control
Pipe size Tin [C] U-value [W/m2K] Pipe length @
34C
8 80 200 750 m
8 80 50 3000 m
8 80 3 52 km
8 80 1 128 km
8 60 200 500 m
8 60 50 2000 m
8 60 3 35 km
8 40 200 150 m
8 40 50 600 m
8 40 3 10 km

The wax appearance temperature of most "normal", paraffin North Sea oils and
condensates is in the range 30 to 40C.
Hot flushing or direct heating must be at a temperature at least 20C above WAT (WDT
Wax Disappearance Temperature).
10.0 Erosion
10.1 Causes of erosion
Erosion can be generated by a number of phenomena:
Particulate erosion
Solids produced
Proppants used for gravel pack or fracking the reservoir
Liquid droplet erosion
Impingent of liquid droplets
Cavitation
Erosion corrosion

Particulate erosion by sand is most likely to cause erosive failures in oil and gas
production systems.

10.1.1 Droplet erosion

Confined to wet gas and multiphase flows in which droplets can form. Droplet erosion
occurs when liquid droplets (or liquid jets) impinge at a surface at high speed.
The erosion rate is dependent on a number of factors including the droplet size, impact
velocity, impact frequency, and liquid and gas density and viscosity.
Test have shown solid-free erosion only occurs at very high velocities DNV-RP-O501
uses a velocity above 70 80 m/s. Droplet erosion may be experienced at the leading
edge turbines and potentially in gas/mist flow in chokes.
The material loss is due to the impact of droplets at the material surface resulting in high
pressure pulses. The forces of droplet droplet impact damage the material by formation
of pits and cracks on the surface and by loss of the material.

10.1.2 Cavitation

When liquid passes through a restriction low pressure areas can be generated. If the
pressure is reduced below the vapor pressure of the liquid, bubbles are formed. These
bubbles then collapse generating shock waves. These shock waves can be of sufficient
amplitude to damage pipework.
The collapse of vapor bubbles may result in loud noise, vibrations and erosion.
If the collapse occurs on a wall/material surface, a micro jet of liquid is formed and will
be impacting on the surface. This will create a high pressure pulse
Cavitation occurs rarely in oil and gas production systems as the operating pressures
are well above vapor pressure, but can be seen in chokes, control valves and pump
impellers.

10.1.3 Erosion corrosion

Erosion-corrosion is the combined effect of particulate erosion and corrosion.

The progression of the erosion-corrosion process depends on the balance between the
erosion and corrosion processes:
In a purely corrosive flow new pipework components typically corrode very
rapidly until a brittle scale develops on the surfaces exposed to the fluid. This
scale layer forms a barrier between the metal and the fluid that substantially
reduces the penetration rate.
In highly erosive flows, in which corrosion is also occurring, the erosion process
predominates and scale is scoured from exposed surfaces before it can influence
the penetration rate.
At intermediate conditions erosion and corrosion mechanisms can interact. In this
case scale can form and then be periodically removed by the erosive particles.

10.1.4 Sand production and erosion due to produced sand

Erosion is due to impact of solid/sand particles at a surface. New wells typically produce
a large amount of sand and proppant as they clean up. Sand production then
stabilizes at a relatively low level before increasing again as the well ages and the
reservoir formation deteriorates. Sand concentration typically ranges from 1 to 50 parts
per million by mass.

Gas systems generally has higher velocities than liquid systems; making them more
prone to erosion. However oil fields may have a higher concentration of produced sand.

Main concerns to be handled and planned for are:

Erosion due to sand production
Transportation of sand; avoid accumulation of sand in flowlines or subsea
separators.
10.1.5 Particle trajectories in an elbow

a) Small particles b) Medium particles c) Large particle

(liquid system) (gas system)

Drag forces on sand particles are different in liquids and gases. Erosion rates in gas
flows are usually greater than in liquid flows operating at the same velocities. Also, the
erosion scar position will be different.

10.1.6 Impact erosion model

Consider Figure 23 depicting solid particles in a fluid flow traveling at a particle velocity
of and impacting a solid wall at an angle .

Figure 27: Solid particles impacting on wall

Most erosion models for predicting erosive material loss for the wall are on the following
form:
( )
Equation 41
Here
is the erosion rate (kg of material removed/kg of erodant )
is the particle impact velocity

is a constant depending on the material being eroded and other factors

is the particle impact angle
( ) is a material dependent function of the impact angle between 0 and 1

is a material dependent index

Note that material loss is proportional with the amount of solids/sand impacting on a
surface provided the sand concentration is not too high; i.e. typically <1-5% by volume.

10.1.7 Guidelines and sand erosion prediction methods

The recommended practice DNV-RP-O501 Erosive Wear in Piping Systems is widely

used as a guideline and for predicting erosion due to sand production is subsea
production systems. The recommended practice includes an impact erosion model and
empirical models for calculating erosion in common piping components such as:
- Straight pipes
- Welded joints
- Reducers
- Elbows
- Blind tees
- Intrusive sand sensors

For multiphase flow, DNV uses mixture velocities and mixture density and viscosity as
input to the flow/particle calculations. These empirical models have proved useful in
estimating erosion due to sand production and aiding in the design and line sizing of
subsea systems.
Another often used guideline is the API 14E although it is widely accepted to be
misleading and incorrect. The API 14E standard does not account for the physical
phenomena governing the erosion process. Note also that the recommendations given
in API 14E are highly conservative for liquid flows and under-estimate the potential for
erosion in gas flows.
For complex geometries or if more detailed analysis is required, CFD is required to
determine the particle trajectories and particle impact characteristics. Contribution to
local pipe wall erosion is calculated by adding up contributions for each particle impact
on the wall using the DNV GL particle erosion impact model:

( )
Equation 42

Mass of particles impacting on the surface is denoted and the resulting wall material
loss is denoted .The material grade is characterized by the material constant and
and a material response function ( ). The material parameters are determined by
testing.
The shape of the material function ( ) depends on the type of group for used. Figure
24 shows ( ) for both ductile materials (steel) and brittle materials respectively. For
ductile materials, e.g. steel grades, the most critical erosion is obtained at impact angle
in the range 25-40. For brittle materials; e.g. ceramics or WC materials, the most
critical impact angle is close to 90. The difference in most critical impact angle for
ductile and brittle materials is reflecting the difference in erosion mechanisms. Material
removal/erosion for ductile materials are due to mechanical action, while for brittle
materials the removal of material/erosion is due to brittle fracture due to repeated
impact at the material surface.

Figure 28: Material function F() for ductile and brittle materials

For steel grades DNV uses K = 2 E-9 (m/s)-n and n=2.6. It is documented experimentally
that the erosion characteristics/resistance is more or less the same all standard steel
grades. For wolfram carbide (brittle material) K=1.1E-10 to 3.2E-10 (m/s)-n depending of
type and n = 2.2.
The DNV GL erosion models are developed based on tests with angular particles
representative for particles produced in the North Sea. Erosion is dependent on the
shape of the particles; i.e. the erosion rate increases with the angularity. Sharp/very
angular particles may typically give 2-3 the erosion rate as for angular particles, while
rounded particles may give 2-3 times less erosion than angular particles.

Figure 29: Erosion wear in complex geometries

11.0 Overview simulation models in flow assurance

It is important to understand the difference of the suitability for the different simulation
models. For transient multiphase models there exists a hierarchical regime of models.
A rule of thumb is to start with the simplest model in steady state modus, i.e. HYSYS
steady state, FlowManagerTM, OLGA steady state and gradually increase the physical
complexity of the problem by use of more complex models i.e. HYSYS dynamics and
OLGA transient. The last phase of complexity is the CFD analysis which should never
be used before a crucial mapping of need has been performed as this is a very detailed
activity and needs to be used in combination with the other ones.
In the same manner the erosion analysis should start with a simple screening by the
DNV erosion model RP 0501 or FlowManagerTM, erosion model. The potential problem
areas that have been identified will then be investigated by use of CFD. In the thermal
analysis only an analytical approach is available for the first screening. The main
calculations need to be done by FEA and in some cases a more refined CFD is
required.
For the analysis and calculation regarding fluid properties, i.e. hydrate strategy and wax
strategy, the simulation tool to be used is PVTsim. In PVTsim a whole specter of
equations of state is available. In the Marlim project the Penelux Peng Robinson
equation of state has been used for fluid property analysis.
Table 4: Overview simulation models that are used in flow assurance
Simulation model
FlowManagerTM
FlowManagerTM Design
FlowManagerTM Dynamic
HYSYS steady state
HYSYS dynamic simulation
PVTsim
RP O501 DNV
CFD multiphase
Purpose Output
Multiphase design Quick pressure-temperature-
Steady state flow rate analysis of long flow
lines
Pressure
Temperature
Flow Rates
Multiphase design Subsea process as part of
Steady state total system, from well to
Includes subsea process topside
modules as compressor, Pressure-temperature-flow
pump, separation etc. rate analysis of long flow
lines
Pressure
Temperature
Multiphase design Subsea process response as
Transient part of total system, from well
Includes subsea process to topside
modules as compressor, Test of functionality
pump, separation etc. Equipment sizes
Flow Assurance Control parameters/ Control
philosophy loops
Process control Operational procedures
philosophy,
control system and
operational procedures
Design tool to determine Flow rates
process conditions Pressures
Design of process Temperatures
equipment Input to line sizing
Flow Assurance Test of functionality
philosophy Equipment sizes
Process control Control parameters/ Control
philosophy, loops
control system and Operational procedures
operational procedures
Fluid properties analysis Fluid properties tables for
Hydrate curve simulation models
Hydrate curves
Wax appearance
Composition of multiphase
fluids
Phase envelope
Erosion calculations Screening of erosion rates
Map potential problem areas
Detailed erosion analysis Detailed analysis of erosion
hot-spots
 Simulation model Purpose Output
CFD/FEA Thermal analysis Detailed analysis of cold-
spots
OLGA steady state multiphase Multiphase design Pressure-temperature-flow
Steady state rate analysis of long flow
lines
Pressure
Temperature
Flow rates
Flow regime
OLGA transient multiphase Multiphase design Flow regime
Slug tracking
Slug volume

CFD transient multiphase Multiphase design Details of flow behavior

CFX

12.0 Field developments - Concept Selection

In this part different field developments will be investigated with examples from existing
system designs. The target is to give an understanding of how a flow assurance
engineer will work to assure the field.

12.1 Types of fields

Table 5: Types of fields
Typical Flow Assurance Challenges and solutions for
Types of fields Types/Concept
specific fields
New fields Normal accessible Gas Hydrate management
Unique combination fields Wax Management
of fluid properties, Erosion (Velocity)
pressure, Flow Induced Vibrations
temperature, Oil Hydrate management
topography and field Wax management
layout combination Difficult accessible Very deep water Boosting requirements
fields and/or reservoirs Hydrate
Wax
Long tie-ins Pressure drop
Hydrate
Wax
Heavy oil with low Hydrate
API(high viscosity, Wax
high spec gravity) Asphaltenes, scale
Temperature
High pressure drop
Examples Boosting and separation (Pazflor)
Separation (Troll)
High pressure/high Typically gas Material temperature limits (subsea cooling)
temperature Operate between hydrate /WATand high limit
Old fields Increased Oil/Gas Dry Gas sgard
Tail-end production recovery with compression Ormen Lange
boosting (Subsea
compression, liquid
pump, separator)
Wet Gas Gullfaks
compression
 Typical Flow Assurance Challenges and solutions for
Types of fields Types/Concept
specific fields
Multiphase Pump
Water prod Hydrate
Scale
Separation Tordis (North sea)
Marlim (Brazil)
* All fields are unique which means that the combination of fluid properties, pressures and temperatures and field layout must be
evaluated for each new field

12.2 Floater/Subsea
At the time being the subsea concepts very often competes with a more traditional
floater solution.
For shallow water depths, bottom-founded facilities like jack up drilling rigs and fixed
offshore structures can be used, and where saturation diving is feasible.
Recently, all subsea solutions are also considered in shallow water fields as they can
compete with floating platforms in cost and reliability.

Figure 30: Concepts of floating or fixed constructions

 Figure 31: Active GulfOil rigs

Figure 32: All subsea, vision of topsideless field developments

13.0 Examples of field developments with subsea process
stations
13.1 Troll Pilot - liquid/liquid separation

With its 115 subsea wells Troll is the largest subsea development in the world. The
wells are characterized by their production from thin oil zones which has required the
development of new drilling and completion technology (1995).
Troll pilot started production in the Troll field in 2001. It was the first subsea separation
system to be installed on the sea bed at 340 meters and 3.5 km from the platform.
By means of the gravity method produced water is separated from the oil and gas flow
from four of Troll C's producing wells. The water is then injected back into the reservoir,
while the separated oil and gas are sent up to the platform.
The Troll C subsea separation system is tied back 3.3 km to the Troll C platform in 350
m of water. The subsea station makes it possible to separate water from the well stream
on the seafloor and re-inject it into a low-pressure aquifer so that the water does not
have to be transported back to the main platform. Eight wells can be routed through the
processing station, which is designed to process four wells at a time, provided they are
at normal production rates.
The main processing modules are the horizontal gravity-based separation vessel and
the subsea water re-injection pump. A fully automated control system with separation
level instrumentation and variable speed drive system provides the main functional
blocks for control of the process system.
The well stream is routed into the separator from one of the main production lines. Pre-
processing is done in an innovative inlet mechanism called a low-shear de-gassing
device. Its purpose is to split the gas and liquids to reduce the speed of the liquids and
limit the emulsion formed. Once past the inlet device, the liquid is allowed to settle in the
separator vessel, and the separated water is taken out directly to the water re-injection
pump. From there, the oil and gas is commingled and forced back to the Troll C semi by
the flowing pressure in the separator and pipeline system. The separated produced
water is re-injected into the disposal reservoir by the subsea water injection pump via a
dedicated injection well.

Depth: 340 m, Step-out: 600 m, Design pressure: 179 bar, Design temperature: -5-68 C,
Operation pressure: 16-40 bar, Operation temperature: 40-60 C

Figure 33: Troll Pilot

Troll B features liquid/liquid separation (water from oil), re-injection of water and
multiphase boosting of oil and gas. The separator used is the Pipe Separator developed by
Hydro.

13.2 Tordis
Located in the Tampen area west of Bergen Tordis came on stream in 1994. After many
years of operation the energy (pressure) in the reservoir has dropped and in addition
the water content in the produced liquid has increased.
The reduced energy is thus used for transporting great volumes of superfluous liquid.
Typical challenges for mature subsea oil fields are increased water cut which has the
following consequences:
Increased hydrostatic head towards platform
o Reduced production
o Not possible to restart wells
Need for increased capacity on platform water treatment facilities
 Need for increased amounts of Methanol/MEG for hydrate prevention
o Need for expensive modifications
o Limitations in infra structure
Increased oil recovery from Tordis field increased the recovery from 49% to 55% which
added 35 million barrels of oil reserves.

Figure 34: Tordis field layout

Figure 35: Tordis subsea separation station

 Figure 36: System overview

Water and sand are separated from the well stream close to the reservoir and injected
into a subsea formation for storage.
In addition a multi-phase pump helps send oil and gas through a 10-kilometre pipeline
to Gullfaks C for processing, storage and export.
Optimizing the use of energy, this solution is also environmentally friendly as it reduces
the volume of produced water discharged into the sea.

13.3 Pazflor - Gas/Liquid Separation and Liquid Boosting

Gas / Liquid Separation and Liquid Boosting:
Gas flows freely to the FPSO
Hydrate preventions of flowlines by means of depressurization is possible
Reduced cost due to elimination of circular flow line
Liquid out of separator with relative low GVF
Efficient pumps with high P can be used Increased recovery & less power
consumption
Boosting of liquid
Stabilized flow regime in risers reduced slugging

13.4 Marlim
Mature field, in operation since 1991

Subsea separation in a deepwater, mature field environment

Reinjection of water into production reservoir
Separation of heavy oil in a subsea environment
14.0 Vocabulary
Abbreviation Definition
ASV Anti Surge Valve
Bar Unity of pressure equal to 100kPa roughly the atmospheric
pressure at sea-level
Bara Absolute pressure ref to vacuum
Barg Pressure above 1 atmosphere
BHP Bottom Hole Pressure
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics, both Fluent and CFX are
simulation packages for CFD (solution of the full Navier-Stokes
equations, nonlinear and dynamic)
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
Company Petrobras
Company StatoilHydro
Conceptual Design Early phase design/ Study
CP Cathodic Protection
DNV Det Norske Veritas
dP Differential Pressure
EPC Engineering Procurement Construction (Contract)
ESD Emergency Shut Down
FEA Finite Element Analysis (computer-based numerical technique
for obtaining near-accurate solutions to a wide variety of
complex engineering problems where the variables are related
by sets of algebraic, differential, and integral equations)
FEED Front End Engineering Design
FIV Flow Induced Vibrations
Formation water Produced water from reservoir
GLR Gas Liquid ratio
Abbreviation Definition
GOR Gas Oil Ratio
GVF Gas Volume Fraction, used to express the fraction of the
volume occupied by gas in a gas liquid mixture at any pressure,
(Volume of gas/Volume of gas+oil+water)
HISC Hydrogen Induced Stress Cracking
HYSYS Process simulation model, steady-state and dynamic, design
tool to determine process conditions
ID Inner Diameter
IOR Increased Oil Recovery
LP Low Pressure
Manifold Branch pipe
MEG Mono Ethylene Glycol
MFP Minimum Flow Project
MSm3/d Mega Standard
ND Nominal Diameter
OLGA Dynamic transient simulation model that solves the Navier-
stokes equations for pipelines
PDT Instrumentation for pressure difference and temperature
PLIM Pipeline Inline Manifold
ppm Parts per Million
PSD Process Shut Down
PVT Pressure Volume Temperature (used as abbreviations for the
fluid properties)
ROV Remote Operated Vehicle
SCM Subsea Control Module (Control Pod)
SCS(t) Subsea Compression Station
Slug Liquid volume in multiphase flow
Slug Catcher Liquid catcher
Abbreviation Definition
SPS Subsea Process System/Subsea Production System
SSAO Submarine Oil/water Separation System
Standard Defined according to 1bar, 15(20)C
Surge Mix of gas and liquid
Template Several wells put together on one frame, well cluster
THP Top Hole Pressure
TQP Technical Qualification Program
UPS Un-interruptible Power Supply
UTA Umbilical Termination Assembly
VCM Vertical Connector Module
Vol% Volume percentage
VSD Variable Speed Drive
WC Water Cut, fraction of water in total liquid
WI Water Injection
WSIP Well Shut In Pressure
Wt weight
yr Year
15.0 Literature
[1] PipeFlow 1 and 2, Ove Bratland, free on net

[2] NORSOK standard P-001, Process design, free on net

[3] Innfring I fluidmekanikk, UiO, Bjrn Gjevik
[4] An introduction to multiphase flow, UiO, Ruben Schulkes
[5] Applied fluid dynamics handbook, Blevins, Krieger
[6] Guidelines for the Avoidance of Vibration Induced Failure in Process Pipework.
[7] Water content of gas, chart, attached
[8] Hydraulics of pipeline systems, B.E. Larock, R.W. Jeppson and G.Z. Watters,
CRC Press, 2000
16.0 Attachments
16.1 Water content in natural gas