Numerical Simulation Software for Oil Sand Slurry Flow in Flexible Pipelines
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 2
Abstract
In order to optimize the hydraulic transportation system efficiency and cost in the surface extraction of Athabasca oil sand deposits in Canada, there is a desire to extend the hydraulic transport system to production faces in oil sands mines using mobile train of Flex-Rite-based flexible pipelines. Hydraulic transportation system based on flexible-pipe arrangement has been shown to be more competitive than the dump-truck transportation system. This flexible arrangement introduces a unique set of hydraulic transport problems which needs rigorous modeling, experimentation, and analysis to understand the system production capacities and efficiency. Part of the work presented here is an attempt to provide multiphase oil sand slurry simulation and modeling by developing a slurry flow simulator, a graphical user interface-based software, for Flex-Rite flexible-pipe train, a form of hydraulic transportation system. Such software provides a tool/platform for rigorous experimentation and analysis of flow and production capacities.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 2 • June 2010
Pages: 50 - 57
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 18, 2008
Accepted: Sep 29, 2009
Published online: May 14, 2010
Published in print: Jun 2010
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