TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of drag-reducing polymers on horizontal oil-water flows
AU - Al-Wahaibi, Talal
AU - Smith, Mujeeb
AU - Angeli, Panagiota
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank EPSRC for providing financial support to this work (EPSRC EP/C520890) and the EPSRC Instrument Pool for providing the high speed camera.
PY - 2007/6
Y1 - 2007/6
N2 - The effect of a drag-reducing polymer (DRP) in the water phase during horizontal oil-water flow was investigated in a 14 mm ID acrylic pipe. Oil (5.5 mPa s, 828 kg/m3) and a co-polymer (Magnafloc 1011) of polyacrylamide and sodium acrylate were used. Two polymer concentrations were tested, 20 ppm and 50 ppm, made from a 1000 ppm master solution. The results showed a strong effect of DRP on flow patterns. The presence of DRP extended the region of stratified flow and delayed transition to slug flow. The addition of the polymer clearly damped interfacial waves. Annular flow changed in all cases investigated to stratified or dual continuous flow, while slug flow changed in most cases to stratified flow. In the cases where the slug and bubble flow patterns still appeared after the addition of the polymer, the oil slugs and bubbles were seen to flow closer together than in the flow without the polymer. The DRP caused a decrease in pressure gradient and a maximum drag reduction of about 50% was found when the polymer was introduced into annular flow. The height of the interface and the water hold up increased with DRP. There were no large differences on pressure gradient and hold up between the two DRP concentrations. Using a two-fluid model it was found that the addition of the polymer results in a decrease in both the interfacial and the water wall shear stresses.
AB - The effect of a drag-reducing polymer (DRP) in the water phase during horizontal oil-water flow was investigated in a 14 mm ID acrylic pipe. Oil (5.5 mPa s, 828 kg/m3) and a co-polymer (Magnafloc 1011) of polyacrylamide and sodium acrylate were used. Two polymer concentrations were tested, 20 ppm and 50 ppm, made from a 1000 ppm master solution. The results showed a strong effect of DRP on flow patterns. The presence of DRP extended the region of stratified flow and delayed transition to slug flow. The addition of the polymer clearly damped interfacial waves. Annular flow changed in all cases investigated to stratified or dual continuous flow, while slug flow changed in most cases to stratified flow. In the cases where the slug and bubble flow patterns still appeared after the addition of the polymer, the oil slugs and bubbles were seen to flow closer together than in the flow without the polymer. The DRP caused a decrease in pressure gradient and a maximum drag reduction of about 50% was found when the polymer was introduced into annular flow. The height of the interface and the water hold up increased with DRP. There were no large differences on pressure gradient and hold up between the two DRP concentrations. Using a two-fluid model it was found that the addition of the polymer results in a decrease in both the interfacial and the water wall shear stresses.
KW - Drag reduction
KW - Flow pattern transition
KW - Hold up
KW - Horizontal oil-water flow
KW - Polymer
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U2 - 10.1016/j.petrol.2006.11.002
DO - 10.1016/j.petrol.2006.11.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34249743169
SN - 0920-4105
VL - 57
SP - 334
EP - 346
JO - Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
JF - Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
IS - 3-4
ER -