Numerical Simulation of Pigging Operation through Curved Pipeline Coupling a T-Abrupt and Bend Drain Pipe
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12, Issue 1
Abstract
Pigging technology is currently widely used in the oil and gas industry. The unstable movement of the pig in the pigging process after a water pressure test will not only affect the operation of pipes, but may even cause them to burst. In this paper, a transient hydraulic model of the pigging process after a water pressure test is established in a two-grid system. The model combines the mass and motion equations of the gas and liquid and then is solved by the method of characteristics. The combined method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software simulation and a semiempirical formula is used to study the gas-liquid flow pressure drop characteristics of T-abrupt and bend drain pipe. It is applied to the pig tracker and hydraulic pulse prediction to obtain the pig’s position and speed. Finally, the field data and the simulation results are basically consistent after comparison, which verifies that the established model is correct and the calculation results are reliable. Hence, we can provide a reliable and effective theoretical basis for the on-site pigging scheme.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express sincere acknowledgments to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51704253) for the financial support in this project.
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12 • Issue 1 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 20, 2019
Accepted: May 28, 2020
Published online: Sep 16, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 16, 2021
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