Institut Francais Du Pe'trole

Elf Aquitaine

Total

Daniel Ferre

Yvon Castel

Jean Falcimaigne

Gilles Ferschneider

Pierre Durando

Eric Vandenbroucke

Christian Pauchon

The invention si a multiphase flow metering method. The method includes a) determining at least two pressure values P and P for the different points A and B, and the value of the internal pressure Po of a device; and b) determining, from the values determined in step a) from the knowledge of the density of the gas phase and of the liquid phase and/or of the average value of the density of the multiphase medium in a slotted tube, from a relation connecting at least the following parameters: the level of the interface between the liquid phase and the gas phase and/or the volume ratio of the gas phase to the liquid phase (GLR) from pressure values P , P2, Po, the total flow rate value Qt of the flowing multiphase medium and/or the flow rate q , q of each of the phases.

Multiphase flow metering method and device

A unified hydraulic model has been developed by the method according to the invention which is applicable to any slope and diameter of pipeline and can handle most of the steady state as well as transient multiphase flow regimes encountered in practice. The new modelling method differentiates two types of flow patterns: separated flow patterns (stratified or annular) and dispersed flow patterns. Intermittent flow patterns (slug, churn flow) are a combination of these two patterns. The same concept has been successfully applied for transition criteria between different flow regimes, insuring continuity of the solutions across the transitions. This requirement is very important for simulating transient phenomena. The transient resolution is achieved by an explicit time advancing scheme. The advantages of the method are; its ability to follow wave front propagation, an easy implementation for the resolution of complex pipeline networks. The performance of the resulting unified hydraulic model is demonstrated using a large number of experimental data.

Method for modelling multiphase flows in pipelines

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Sautron, France

Daniel Ferre