OLGA User Group Meeting

OLGA Support
Tips & Tricks
Beijing, UGM, Oct. 18, 2010

OLGA support
Send to olgasupport@sptgroup.com
Support Center access to FAQ, track your support requests
Requesting user feedback on support
Check www.sptgroup.com for new minor releases

Feedback from earlier UGMs

Tips & Tricks

1. What is the main difference between OLGA 6 and OLGA 5 ?

2. What hardware is recommended to achieve maximum

performance with OLGA ?
3. Is OLGA compatible with Windows 7 ?
4. Can OLGA simulate Water Hammer effects ?
5. Why does not always the 2nd order numerical scheme give
more accurate results?
6. Why is AXIALHEAT not included in OLGA 6?

What is the main difference between

OLGA 6 and OLGA 5 ?

What is NOT different in

OLGA 6 compared to OLGA 5 ?

OLGA 6 and OLGA 5 : same concept

fundamental modeling concept is the same
Flow model
Numerical methods for conservation equations

Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the same

Comparisons from cases in OVIP data base and from the

SPT functional test repository show that:
OLGA 5 and OLGA 6 will in general give very similar results
both for steady-state and transient simulations

Conservation equations in OLGA 6

three momentum equations (gas, oil, water)
effect when individual momentum of oil and water are
important (heavy slugging in risers)

an interfacial level gradient term between oil and water

give higher water content in gas condensate pipelines for low
flow rates

better consistency between steady state pre-processor and

dynamic solution
interfacial level gradients included in pre-processor

2nd order scheme for mass equations

optional

OLGA 6 has a new node model

Internal nodes have a finite volume
use same physical and numerical models as sections

more general than split/merge => easier to model closed loops

No momentum transfer across nodes

higher pressure drop for cases with high velocity

Process equipment in OLGA 6

Controllers are signal network components
Coupled in the controller signal network

Separator is a flow network component

Similar to multi-train separator in OLGA 5

The OLGA 6 code is parallelized

developed for multi core platforms, and may give
significant performance boost when run on such systems
Most benefit for
large cases with few nodes, long pipelines and a relative
small amount of process equipment

What hardware is recommended to achieve

maximum performance with OLGA ?

Effect of several cores and CPUs

Oil field

Gas-condensate

Normalized wall clock time

1.2
1

Running 2 CPUs on
same machine

0.8
Running 2 threads on
each core
(Hyperthreading)

0.6
0.4
0.2
0

4+4

Cores+Hyperthreading

Tested using 2 Quad core Intel CPUs with Hyperthreading

(2 threads per core)
Speedup is case dependent

2*(4+4)

What CPU to buy?

Speedup is dependent on e.g.
Size of problem
Dominating flow regime
Modules used

True multicores give good speedup

Good effect of Hyperthreading (Intel)
Effect of multi-CPU for larger problems
AMD and Intel Quad core give good speedup
Expects good performance on new 6 and 8 cores CPUs

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Is OLGA compatible with Windows 7 ?

Windows 7 compatibility
Yes, with some known exceptions

OLGA is not supported on

PCs with Windows 7 + integrated Intel graphic card and
integrated Intel driver

Following issues happen more often on Windows 7

Copy as picture of the network view to clipboard fails
Input report does not include image of the network view

Can OLGA simulate Water Hammer effects?

Water Hammer simulations in OLGA

Hammer effects occur in liquid systems with fast transients
Injection systems

Maximum hammer pressure :

Pmax l c vl

P = Pressure (Pa)
c = Wave propagation velocity (speed of sound) (m/s)
v = Fluid flowing velocity (m/s)
= Density (kg/m3)

Maximum hammer pressure achieved if valve closure time is

shorter than system response time:

L = pipeline length

2L
tr
c

Water Hammer simulations in OLGA

Fluid packing
contributes to
pressure increase
Small spatial
discretization
gives better
resolution of
pressure wave

4 km long pipeline with flowing water

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Water Hammer simulations in OLGA

Elastic walls
more correct
volume change &
speed of sound

4 km long pipeline with flowing water

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Water Hammer simulations in OLGA

Advice for simulation hammers in OLGA
Spatial discretization is important
Use DTCONTROL : SOUND_CFL = ON
small fixed time steps (dt = 2Ls/c)
Account for elastic walls with ELASTIC = ON

CONCLUSION
OLGA can simulate water hammer effects

Why does not always the 2nd order numerical

scheme give more accurate results?

2nd Order Scheme for Mass Equations

It should be used for cases with holdup or concentration
gradients e.g.

Start-up
Rate change
Slugging
Injection of inhibitors

2nd order scheme is not recommended for simulations where

instabilities are observed
enhances the numerical oscillations

Why is AXIALHEAT not included in OLGA 6?

AXIALHEAT
Not implemented in OLGA 6 yet because
Model in OLGA 5 is sensitive to pipeline geometry
Should only be used for vertical risers
No field data is available

May be included in later versions depending on feedback

from users

be dynamic

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