A new approach for modeling of gas-condensate flow through pipelines under industrial operating conditions

The main objective of this study is to achieve a comprehensive integrated two-phase/single-phase hydrodynamic model for gas-condensate flows through transmission pipelines under industrial operating conditions, i.e. large pipe size and elevated pressure. The model developed in the present work covers single-phase gas, mist flows, and also all flow patterns occurring in transition from stratified to annular having liquid volume fraction from 0.005 to 0.3. Flaniganʹs correlation was corrected in the way that it was applicable for mist two-phase flow under industrial operating conditions. For liquid film holdup, Grolman and Fortuin model and Taitel and Duckler approaches were employed for uphill and downhill two-phase flows respectively. Grolman and Fortuin and BJA methods were applied to find pressure drop through upward and downward pipelines respectively. Two new relations for predicting liquid–gas and liquid–wall friction factors, which were obtained based on fitting to the field data, were used in Grolman and Fortuin model. 200 field pressure data were collected by conducting a field experiment on an industrial gas-condensate pipeline. 160 of these field data were applied to make the required corrections to the model including the development of two new correlations for both liquid–gas and liquid–wall friction factors. The rest of the data points were utilized to verify the model. The comparison of the present model results with the field data revealed that the proposed model is capable of predicting pressure drop accurately in gas-condensate pipelines.