CFD modelling of multiphase flows in oil and gas,

chemical and process industries

Simon Lo 13/09/2011

simon.lo@cd-adapco.com

Contents

Shell-&-tube heat exchanger flow, thermal & stress

T-junction, thermal sleeve thermal stripping, FSI
Gas-liquid flow in pipeline and riser sever slugging
STAR-OLGA coupling 1D + 3D modelling
Offshore platform wave impact, lifeboat launch
Process equipment mixing vessel, particle conveying

EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) cooler

EGR cooler: Conjugate Heat Transfer Model

148 tubes

3.5 million cells model

Shell-side:
Coolant
1.2 million cells

Tube-side:
EGR Gas
1.8 million cells

Steel
570,000 cells

Computed Mass Flux Through the EGR Tubes

0.509 0.521 0.531 0.507

0.540 0.545 0.519 0.514 0.522 0.505 0.480
0.558 0.571 0.558 0.587 0.575 0.554 0.526 0.478 0.478 0.461
0.560

0.594 0.568 0.681 0.722 0.732 0.686 0.595 0.503 0.456 0.449

0.601 0.636 0.692

0.857 0.876 0.854 0.794 0.656 0.504 0.439 0.445

0.567 0.659 0.773 0.883 0.916 0.926 0.915 0.892 0.816 0.674 0.433 0.428 0.435
0.641 0.782 0.886 0.940 0.941 0.940 0.928 0.896 0.819

0.396 0.433

0.608 0.711 0.868 0.920 0.943 0.951 0.935 0.921 0.881 0.786 0.597 0.444 0.440
0.648 0.795 0.896 0.935 0.945 0.935 0.928 0.904

0.848 0.703 0.525 0.439

0.566 0.687 0.826 0.910 0.928 0.935 0.927 0.907 0.867 0.764 0.594 0.453 0.443
0.578 0.687 0.827 0.887 0.901 0.911 0.901 0.863 0.780 0.628 0.474 0.442
0.569 0.648 0.779 0.836
0.512

Total Mass Flow: 0.244944 kg/sec

0.860 0.827 0.771 0.632 0.493 0.450

0.596 0.688 0.705 0.723 0.748 0.702 0.572 0.478 0.437

0.527 0.604 0.638 0.622 0.580 0.509 0.454

0.509 0.510 0.496 0.476

Percent of Total Flow

Coolant Pressure & Temperature Contours

Pressure

Temperature

Coolant Temperature & Heat Transfer Coefficient

Heat transfer coefficient

Temperature

Coolant Boiling Areas

Exhaust Gas Pressure & Temperature Contours

Pressure

Temperature

Metal Temperature Contours

Key Results: Coolant Boiling

1.

2.

Two regions where boiling of

the coolant might occur
(Shown as red regions).
Close to the fire plate, due
to high metal temperatures
and lack of circulation.
Behind the first baffle, due
to lack of circulation.

Design Assessment of an EGR Cooler

Integrated CFD/FEA Methodology

CFD Analysis Used to Determine:

Heat Transfer Coefficients

Core Pressure Drop Characteristics

Flow Distributions in Manifolds and Core

FEA Analysis Used To Determine:

Transient Temperatures

Transient Thermal Stresses

Vibratory Stress

CFD Analyses performed using STAR-CD

FEA Analyses performed using ANSYS

CFD Coolant Flow Model

Coolant model used to

develop heat transfer
boundary conditions.

CFD Exhaust Gas Models

Exhaust Gas model used to
develop manifold heat transfer
boundary conditions, and
develop mass flow split in
core. Detailed tube model
captures local effects.

FEA Thermal Analysis Gas Boundary Conditions

Gas BCs mapped from CFD to FEA.
Detailed pipe model results used for
tube surfaces. Mass flow split
obtained from CFD as well. Core
gas temperatures developed through
use of pipe flow network

Entrance Effect
Start of Spiral

CFD

End of Spiral

FEA

FEA Thermal Analysis

Coolant Boundary Conditions

CFDCoolant BCs mapped from CFD to FEA.FEA

Boiling effects considered in FEA.

FEA Model

Overall Model

Detailed Tube Model

Thermal Analysis
Transient Temperatures
Transient thermal run simulates
test cycle. These temperatures
provide the basis for the thermal
stress analysis.

Results are tracked to obtain the

time points that produce the largest
thermal gradients.

Thermal Stress Analysis

Thermal strain ranges are calculated at each

location, and between all time points. This
determines the greatest strain range experienced
for all locations.

AP1000 PWR - Virtual Simulators

Zeses Karoutas et al. Westinghouse Electric Company

Top Fuel 2010, Orlando, Florida, September 26-29, 2010

Pipe elbows and joins

Erosion modeling
Stress analysis

Thermal solution

International Benchmark OECD T junction

S.T. Jayaraju, E.M.J. Komen: Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Petten,
The Netherlands

23

T-junction Benchmark Results Blind test

Wall Resolved LES

normalized flow profiles at 1.6 diameters

downstream of the mixing zone

normalized flow profiles at 2.6 diameters

downstream of the mixing zone

S.T. Jayaraju, E.M.J. Komen: Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Petten, The Netherlands

Thermal Sleeve

Thermal sleeve failed after 40 days operation.

Vibration issues.
Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) modelling:
Structure modeled totally within STAR-CCM+
Fluid grid morphed to conform
Implicit fluid/solid coupling

Flow in and around a Christmas tree

Oil and gas flow in 100m pipeline

Sever slugging in riser, Uni of Cranfield, UK

Experiment
Star-CD-1
Star-CD-2

Riser DP, bar

Riser top

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

0
50

100

150

200
Flow time t, s

250

300

4 inch riser
Riser DP = Pbase - Ptop
10.5 m
55 m pipeline
Riser base

350

Dynamic forces on pipe elbow in slug flow

Model the long pipe

using OLGA with slug
tracking

Pressure and temperature

Mass flux, velocity and density of each phase

Flow direction
Model pipe elbow using STAR-CCM+

Pressure variation due to slug flow pass elbow

Note the passing of liquid
slug in blue.

Gas volume fraction

Note the increase in pressure as

liquid slug passes.

Pressure on the outer part

Forces on the inner part

30

Direction change

FyI: y component
FzI: z component

10

-10

1
0.8
0.6

-20

0.4
0.2

-30

9
10
11
Flow time t, s

12

13

Resultant force and force

components on the inner part

14

0
15

Liquid holdup HL in the bend

Force on the inner wall FI, N

20

FRI: Resultant force of F xI and FyI

FxI: x component

Comparison

Slug frequency (Hz)

Coupling model

Experiment

0.5

0.5

slug front: 2.8 to 3.6

Slug velocity (m/s)

slug tail: 3.0 to 3.5

3.6

Peak force on bend (N)

44 to 54

40 to 60

Maximum force on bend (N)

54

60

In industrial design with safety factor 2: maximum force 141 N

EXXON-MOBIL SLUG CATCHER

Tanks 45 m long, 3 m diameter.

Time scale large (2 hours)

CFD Model: 2.2 Million cells.

Gas Outlets

Inlet
Oil Outlets

EXXON-MOBIL SLUG CATCHER (Upstream

Olga Model)

(200m)

(24 Km)

EXXON-MOBIL SLUG CATCHER

Wave loading on platform

High fidelity with multi-physics:

Wind and wave loadings

Stress

High fidelity, large domain, time dependent

Launching of life boat

LIFEBOAT LAUNCHING
combined 6 DOF, overlapping mesh, VOF (compressible)

Palermo mixer: Effect of rpm on particle suspension

380 rpm

300 rpm

480 rpm

39

Mixing of viscous liquids

An example of a mixer for highly viscous liquids, with small gaps

between moving parts whose paths cross during rotation.

Gas entrainment in mixing

Discrete Element Method (DEM)

Simple conveyor problem

Non-spherical particles: 3 sphere composite particles

Conveying belt: Wall velocity boundary condition

DEM Spreading product for drying and blending

DEM Spreading product for drying and blending

Outlook Geometry resolution

Size of CFD model:

1 billion cells => frontier

100 million cells => large
10 million cells => average
1 million cells => small

Outlook Coupled physics

Flow + heat/mass transfer + chemical reaction

Fluid structure interaction
Flow + thermal + stress
Flow + electromagnetic