Complex Fluid- Non Newtonian Fluid

Dr. Lay Tiong LIM

Total Indonesia (Balik Papan) 9th to 12th May 2011

Temperature and flow assurance

Reservoir Temperature

> 70 C

Oil
Emulsion

Gas

40oC/104oF

Wax
30oC/86oF

Water drop out

Hydrate
20oC/68oF

Hydrate

ambient < -50 C

< 0oC/32o F (determined by ambient)

< 0oC/32oF
(determined by ambient + Joule Thomson)
2

VISCOSITY and its models

Friction and fluid-pipe wall heat transfer are depending on the Reynolds number (Re = uD/)

NEWTONIAN
Viscosity depends on temperature (and pressure)

BINGHAM
Fluid must overcome a yield stress to flow Viscosity does not reduce with increased velocity

POWER LAW
Viscosity reduces with increased velocity shear thinning No yield stress

Effect of oil viscosity on the discharge pressure of a multi-phase

pump
(simulated with OLGA pos. displ. pump)

Pipe outlet pressure is the same for both cases. Pipeline profile is basically horizontal. The high viscosity (green curve) is above 100 Cp for more than 50 % of the line, while the low viscosity is about 2 Cp for the entire pipeline.

dP ~ 23 Bar

Newtonian Viscosity Shear stress:

(Pa)

Shear rate:

du dy
/

(m/s/m)

Viscosity:

(Pa s)

Newtonian Viscosity Shear stress:

(Pa)

Shear rate:

du dy

(m/s/m)

Viscosity:

(Pa s)

Bingham fluids yield stress (no shear thinning)

shear stress: apparent viscosity:

y
app y /

yield stress plastic viscosity

Power law shear thinning no yield stress

shear stress: apparent viscosity:

K n
n 1 app K

K n

consistency factor power exponent

Apparent viscosity as function of shear rate

25.0 20.0 App. visc. Ns/m 2 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Shear rate (m/s)/m
9

Newtonian Power law Bingham

Consistency factor: 5 Pa Power exponent: 0.1 Yield stress: 20 Pa Plastic viscosity: 5 Ns/m2

Viscosity as function of T and shear rate

Viscosity of stabilized crude as a function of temperature and shear rate
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 20 40 60 Temperature (C)

Newtonian 30 s-1 100 s-1 300 s-1 500 s-1

Viscosity (CP)

80

100

10

Effective viscosity in mixtures

Effective viscosity vs. temperature (Uliq.,mix = 3.5 m/s, WC=70% and GLR =53)
35 30
Viscosity (CP)
Calculated viscosity ignoring emulsion effect Measured effective viscosity

25 20 15 10 5 0 30 35 40 45

50

55

60

Temperature (C)

11

OLGA Complex Fluid module

Use for:
Heavy oils Waxy oils Emulsions Hydrate slurries

Rheology models
Viscous Newtonian Power law Bingham

Effects of complex fluids

Increased range of unstable production Greater liquid hold-up Higher pressure drop

Why COMPLEX fluid model is important?

Higher pressure drop Slower cold start-up Unstable multiphase flow

13

With and without COMPLEX FLUID

Trend data
cold-s tart-s tandard: TOTAL MASS FLOW BRAN-1,PIPE-2,3 [kg/s ] cold-s tart-cm plx: TOTAL MASS FLOW BRAN-1,PIPE-2,3 [kg/s ]

40 35 30 25 20 kg/s 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 0 0.5 1 Time [h] 1.5 2 2.5

14

Complex Fluid
High viscosity, yield stress, or liquids exhibiting shear thinning.
waxy oil or emulsions - shear thinning and high viscosity a slurry of hydrate crystals in oil - yield stress depending on the particle concentration.

Fluids that demonstrate both shear thinning and a yield stress, e.g., gelled waxy crude, can only be approximated using complex fluid models. Standard OLGA flow models assume a Newtonian rheology OLGA does not automatically take into account fluid effects caused by Emulsions, Hydrates and Wax. OLGA provides several semi-empirical models to account for more complex rheologies.

Complex Fluid Model

The presence of yield stress or shear thinning in the liquid might result in a decreasing pressure drop with increasing production rates up to a certain point where the pressure drop is at a minimum, even for horizontal pipes. For production rates below this minimum, unstable operation might occur depending on the boundary conditions of the transport line. These instabilities can interact with other, more well known, multiphase flow phenomena such as terrain slugging and give rise to a wider range of unstable operational conditions. The purpose of the complex fluid model is to predict such behavior.

When to use
The complex fluid module should be used whenever a fluid exhibits significant deviation from Newtonian behavior, either by shear thinning (e.g., heavy oils) or influence of yield stress (e.g., waxy oils). For Newtonian liquids, the module should be used when modeling fluids with viscosity above 50 cP and it has been tested up to 1000 cP. The Complex Fluid Module requires a separate license

Methods and assumptions

Alternative for single phase flow: Complex viscosity model
modifies viscosity only single data point input

As opposed to the complex viscosity model, the complex fluid model includes numerous modifications to the physical models for both separated and distributed flow taking into account the nonNewtonian behavior of the fluids. Non-Newtonian behavior can be modeled for the liquid hydrocarbon phase, the water phase or both. The Newtonian option is included to capture the peculiarities of higher viscosity liquids.

be dynamic

19

10