Pipeline Modeling Improvements in

Aspen HYSYS V7.3

May 2011

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Steady-State Multiphase Flow Model

Developing and solving rigorous
equations that describe
multiphase flow are difficult if
not impossible to solve

In practice, treat multiphase fluid as homogeneous fluid (with

density m) and evaluate energy equation for this hypothetical fluid
With known mass flow and inlet pressure, integrate pressure gradient
along length of pipe to calculate outlet pressure
Pressure gradient
along pipe

dp
dp
m g sin

dL
dL

Gravitational
Change in potential energy

mv
f

dv
dL
Acceleration
Change in kinetic energy

Friction
Irreversible losses

Depending on application, significance of each term will change

Gravitational effects dominate vertical flow through wells and risers

Friction and acceleration will be important in high-speed gas flow
2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Solving the Energy Equation

How are friction loss and fluid density determined to solve
energy equation?
Friction Loss

Mixture density

More than one phase

contacts pipe wall
Interfacial friction
between phases
Depends on flow patterns

Function of hold-up in
pipe which is proportion
of pipe cross-section
occupied by liquid phase
Affected by slippage
Depends on flow patterns

Pipe Flow Correlations have been developed to estimate

liquid hold-up and friction loss

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

 2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Dynamic Model

Pressure/flow solution for dynamic simulation

Slug prediction
Hydrate/Wax/Asphaltene formation prediction

Flow assurance

Additional operations that contribute to loss/gain of pressure in flow network

Ability to accurately calculate temperature profile in flow network
Accurate estimates of fluid properties, particularly viscosity
Fluid flows through interconnected branches, i.e. tees and mixers are present
Flexibility of boundary conditions to coincide with experimental data

Unit operations/fittings
Heat transfer
Fluid properties/PVT
Flow network solution/boundary conditions

Adequate options of pipe flow correlations to model wide-range of physical

situations

Pipe correlations availability

Solver Performance

Speed and accuracy of solution

Key features
of multiphase flow solver
Aspen Hydraulics
HYSYS Pipe Segment
Single Pipeline Steady-State Solver

Rigorous
Flow Network Steady-State Solver

Dynamic Solver

Not supported

Simple

Key functionality
HYSYS Pipe Segment
Aspen Hydraulics sub-flowsheet

Main unit operations capable of

modeling multiphase pipe flow in HYSYS

Multiphase Pipe Flow Models in HYSYS

Aspen Hydraulics Steady-State Solver in V7.3

Solution
speed

V7.3 steady-state solver can be

up to 10 times faster than V7.2

Flowsheet
Flexibility

Improved boundary conditions

Ignore unit operations

Pipe Model
Options

Internal pipe fittings

Improved heat transfer
specifications

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Substantial
improvement in
the speed and
efficiency in
how pipeline
models and
scenarios can
be developed
and tested in
Aspen
Hydraulics V7.3

Steady-State Solver Boundary Conditions

Pipeline Pressure-Flow
Behavior

Inlet
Pressure

Pipe

Three variables characterize flow

Mass Flow
1. Inlet Pressure
2. Outlet Pressure
Scenario Inlet Pressure
3. Mass Flow
By specifying two variables as
boundary conditions, third
unknown can be calculated with
mass and energy balance

1
2
3

Aspen Hydraulics V7.2

Supports scenario 1

Outlet Pressure
Specified
Specified
Calculated

Calculated
Specified
Specified

Outlet
Pressure

Mass Flow
Specified
Calculated
Specified

Aspen Hydraulics V7.3

Supports all three scenarios

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Ignore Hydraulic Unit Operations

Individual unit
operations (e.g.
pipe, tee,
valves) can be
ignored in Aspen
Hydraulics subflowsheet
Allows faster
development of
scenarios where
flow through a
Ignoring this pipe ignores the
associated network branch
particular
but allows the rest of the
branch is shut-in
sub-flowsheet to solve

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

New Options in Hydraulics Pipe Operation

Internal fittings available in
Hydraulics pipe segment
Can create list of fittings or
specify overall factors
Equivalent length is calculated
for pipe
Allows quick and simple
models of fittings without
having to add additional unit
operations to sub-flowsheet

New heat transfer options

Overall heat loss from pipe can
be specified
Outlet temperature can be
specified

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

HYSYS Pipe Segment Improvements

Improved flexibility in assigning pipe flow correlations
Can now assign different pipe flow correlations to different segment
orientations (vertical, horizontal, inclined)

V7.3

V7.2

Can assign different

flow correlations to
different segment
geometries

Selected flow
correlation applied to all
segments in entire pipe
operation

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Summary of Aspen Pipeline Enhancements

Significant improvement to Aspen pipeline models available in HYSYS,
particularly
Speed improvement in Hydraulics
V7.3 is ~10 times faster than V7.2

Additional boundary condition support in Hydraulics

More flowsheet flexibility in Hydraulics
Flow correlation flexibility in HYSYS pipe segment

2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

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