Three-phase flow (water, oil and gas) in a vertical circular cylindrical duct with leaks: A theoretical study

Abstract

This article describes the fluid dynamic behavior of a three-phase flow (water-oil-natural gas) in a vertical pipe with or without leakage. The studied pipe has 8 meters in length, circular cross-section with 25 cm in diameter and a leak, which hole has a circular shape with 10mm diameter located in the center of pipe. The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy for each phase (continuous phase-oil, dispersed phases-gas and water) were numerically solved using ANSYS CFX software, in which the Eulerian-Eulerian model and the RNG-turbulence model were applied. Results of the pressure, velocity, temperature and volume fraction distributions of the involved phases are present and analyzed.